Bioretention cells, also known as rain gardens, have been successfully implemented in a number of typical suburban developments. For example, the developer of Somerset community^{1, 2} in Prince George's  County, Maryland, was able to save more than $4,000 per lot using bioretention cells instead of conventional BMP pond technology. Six additional lots were recovered due to lower stormwater management space requirements, and the community was marketable as environmentally friendly and ingeniously landscaped. In such developments, rain gardens are a natural stormwater management solution. Planted in low-lying areas, the gardens contain specific layers of soil, sand, and organic mulch. These layers naturally filter the site's runoff, substantially reducing common homeowner pollutants such as lawn fertilizers and driveway oils and providing protection for the receiving waterways.

Designing with rain gardens in a low density residential area can³

• establish a unique sense of place by featuring plants native to the area

• encourage environmental stewardship and community pride

• provide a host of additional environmental benefits (habitat for wildlife and native plant varieties, improved air quality, mitigation of urban climates)

• increase real estate values by the use of aesthetically pleasing landscape

References

¹ Growing Greener in your Rappahannock River Watershed
Contact Friends of the Rappahannock, http://www.riverfriends.org/ 

² U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1995: Maryland developer grows 'Rain Gardens' to control residential runoff. Nonpoint Source News-Notes, 42 (August/September), http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/info/NewsNotes/index.html

³ The Bioretention Manual, Prince George's County Department of Environmental Resources Programs and Planning Division, Maryland, 2001.