Academy Road Constructed Wetlands

Steele Landscape Architecture collaborated with CHA Consulting on a designed wetland for the Albany Water District. The wetland captures, infiltrates, and filters stormwater flows, removing stormwater from the combined sewer system. The wetland is designed to hold more than 1,000,000 gallons capacity and includes forebays to slow stormwater from multiple drainage inputs, a micro-pool to capture water and reduce sediment, and a vegetated ecological swale. Steele led the design of a vegetative ecology scheme using native plant species tolerant of varied levels of seasonal inundation and soil hydrology. The design includes more than 60 trees, 400 shrubs, and a matrix of more than 5,000 herbaceous and aquatic plantings.