Hard Bargain Farm Green Stormwater Infrastructure

Green stormwater infrastructure helps an environmental education center advance its status as a sustainable facility in concert with previous living building construction.

At the Alice Ferguson Foundation’s Hard Bargain Farm, public school students and other Prince Georges County, Maryland residents can step back in time and experience life on a riverfront farm. They can also learn about nature in the Potomac River watershed. Actively managed to demonstrate agricultural practices from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and to support the Foundation’s environmental education programs, the historic site is located across the Potomac River from George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

Many of the farm’s educational structures and pasture areas are located along
the steep slopes of the eastern bluff of the Potomac River. Runoff from these and other impervious surfaces was causing erosion into sensitive receiving waters. Working with Hard Bargain Farm, Biohabitats designed a bioswale and constructed wetland to intercept and treat one third of an acre of impervious area. To the extent possible, the design also addresses nutrient loading from livestock and other agricultural practices. Combined with nature-based water infrastructure work Biohabitats previously designed for the site’s education building, the green stormwater infrastructure strengthens Hard Bargain Farm’s reputation as an exemplary facility that is committed to sustainable land use practices.

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• Design-Build