The Hydro Filterra™ is an innovative bioretention and biofiltration system that harnesses the natural treatment action of vegetation and the filtration power of specially engineered soils.
From the surface Hydro Filterra™ looks like a tree box, with a suitable shrub or small tree protruding through a decorative grating in a concrete slab at pavement level. Underneath, the pre-cast concrete chamber contains a layer of enhanced mulch, on top of a unique soil filter medium to deliver high levels of surface water treatment.
“The most sustainable drainage solutions are those which engineer in nature’s way – combining the best of natural processes with a simple and practical technology,” said Alex Stephenson, Operations Director of Hydro International. “Hydro Filterra™ provides filtration in an attractive unit that enhances the landscaping and amenity of a street scene, with the added advantage of keeping tree roots contained.
“Often, achieving SuDS-compliant filtration can require a treatment train solution with a range of drainage elements, each providing a level of treatment and targeting specific pollutants. The beauty of Hydro Filterra™ is that it operates through an array of physical, chemical and biological processes simultaneously to provide a mini-treatment train in a single device.”
Barry Gets ‘Quality’ Treatment with Pioneering
Hydro Filterra™ Bioretention System
One of the first UK installations of Hydro Filterra™ has brought attractive landscaping and stringent surface water quality control to a sensitive location in Barry, South Wales.
Vale of Glamorgan Council retrofitted three Hydro Filterra™ units at the Barry Business Support Centre car park to upgrade the site to meet SuDS requirements and provide urban planting and landscaping for much-needed urban regeneration.
This typical urban location is surrounded by buildings and infrastructure and the three Hydro Filterra™ units enabled Environment Agency requirements to be met for removing pollutants from surface water runoff before discharge via the storm sewer into the adjacent docks.
Hydro Filterra™ was developed as an engineered bioretention system to overcome the limitations of conventional bioretention and biofilter systems, due to their large footprint and lack of design predictability. Hydro Filterra™ connects simply to drainage inlet and outlet systems, provides for ease of design against flow control and treatment parameters and performs consistently whatever the site characteristics.
Hydro Filterra™ is one of the Hydro StormTrain® Series of surface water treatment devices, which also includes;
- The First Defense® – an economical vortex separator that removes coarse particles, litter and oil from surface water runoff.
- The Downstream Defender® – an advanced hydrodynamic vortex separator that removes fine particles along with oils and other floatable debris from surface water runoff.
- The Up-Flo™ Filter – a combined sedimentation and screening device with fluidised bed filtration technology to deliver a high-performance multi-stage treatment train within a single device.
For more information on the Hydro Filterra™ or Hydro StormTrain®Series please call the StormTrain® hotline on 01275 337955, email stormtrain@hydro-int.com or visit www.hydro-int.com/stormtrain .
