Stormwater landscape maintenance plays an important role in keeping bioswales, biofiltration areas, vegetated BMPs and other green infrastructure functioning as intended. In San Diego County, property owners and managers may be responsible for inspecting and maintaining these stormwater features, making ongoing stormwater landscape maintenance an important part of responsible property management.
San Diego County specifically advises property owners that structural BMPs must be regularly inspected and maintained to ensure they continue functioning effectively. Depending on the property, that responsibility may rest with an owner, HOA, property owners association, special district or public agency.
For certain properties, this responsibility also involves documentation and verification.
The County’s structural BMP program includes annual inspection and self-verification programs. High-priority sites may receive annual on-site inspections, while medium-priority sites can be asked to document that their BMPs have been inspected and maintained.
For HOAs in particular, a property’s Stormwater Maintenance Agreement can identify specific inspection and maintenance responsibilities for its BMPs.
That makes stormwater landscape maintenance more than an aesthetic consideration. It can be part of responsible property management and long-term stormwater management.
What Does Stormwater Landscape Maintenance Include?
Maintaining a bioswale or vegetated BMP is different from maintaining a conventional landscape area.
The goal isn’t simply to keep plants trimmed and landscape beds looking clean. Landscape crews need to understand that these areas serve a functional stormwater purpose.
Depending on the site’s approved plans and maintenance requirements, stormwater landscape maintenance may include monitoring and addressing:
- Dead, diseased or poorly established vegetation
- Excessive or overgrown plant material
- Weeds and unwanted vegetation
- Sediment, litter and debris accumulation
- Erosion or exposed soil
- Irrigation problems
- Drainage concerns and standing water
- Obstructions around inlets and outlets
- Mulch and soil conditions
- Plant coverage and establishment
- Conditions following significant rain events
San Diego County recommends monthly inspections for several conditions in vegetated and biofiltration BMPs, including sediment, litter, debris and vegetation health. Proper drainage and erosion should also be inspected following significant rain events.
For property managers and HOA communities, incorporating these inspections into an established stormwater landscape maintenance program can help keep landscape-related issues visible and actionable.
Plant Health Is Part of Stormwater Performance
Plant health becomes especially important in a vegetated stormwater system because the landscape itself is part of the BMP.
Plants may need to tolerate periods of dry weather as well as occasional inundation. The County notes that California-friendly, drought-tolerant and native plants can reduce irrigation and maintenance needs while preserving the water-quality benefits of a structural BMP.
That means plant care decisions should consider more than appearance.
Replacing unsuccessful plant material with an inappropriate species, changing grades or altering the original layout could affect how the BMP performs.
For Enhanced Landscape Management, this is an important distinction.
Our goal isn’t simply to maintain the landscape. It is to understand the purpose of the landscape and manage it accordingly. Effective stormwater landscape maintenance considers plant health, site conditions, irrigation and the intended function of the stormwater feature.
Irrigation Management Matters, Too
Irrigation and stormwater infrastructure may seem like separate systems, but they can directly affect one another.
Excess irrigation can contribute to erosion, unnecessary runoff or poor plant performance. City of San Diego stormwater maintenance guidance specifically identifies erosion caused by concentrated irrigation flow as a condition requiring corrective action, including repairing the affected landscape and adjusting the irrigation system.
Routine irrigation inspections and adjustments can therefore play an important role in maintaining vegetated stormwater areas.
For property managers and HOAs, having landscape and irrigation systems managed together can help identify problems earlier. As part of stormwater landscape maintenance, irrigation teams can monitor system performance and identify conditions that may contribute to erosion, runoff or declining plant health.
After the Rain: When Stormwater Landscape Maintenance Becomes Especially Important
A major rain event is one of the best times to see whether a stormwater landscape is functioning properly.
Is water moving through the area as intended?
Has erosion occurred?
Are plants damaged?
Is sediment blocking an inlet?
Is water remaining in areas where it shouldn’t?
San Diego County recommends inspecting vegetated BMPs for drainage and erosion after significant rain events. Its guidance for infiltration BMPs also calls for checking for obstructed inlets and outlets and prolonged standing water.
For a landscape management team, these observations can provide valuable information for the property manager and help identify concerns before they become larger problems.
Post-storm inspections can therefore be an important component of a comprehensive stormwater landscape maintenance strategy.
A Growing Need for San Diego Properties
California continues to invest in green infrastructure, water-quality improvements and stormwater management. At the same time, new and redeveloped properties increasingly incorporate permanent stormwater features into their landscapes.
Every new bioswale, biofiltration basin and vegetated BMP creates something that must be cared for long after construction crews leave.
For HOAs, commercial properties, multifamily communities, campuses and public agencies, that means landscape maintenance and stormwater performance are becoming increasingly connected.
The landscape contractor maintaining these areas should understand that connection.
Stormwater landscape maintenance requires a long-term approach that considers both the appearance of the property and the purpose of its green infrastructure.
Enhanced Landscape Management: Landscape Care With a Long-Term View
Enhanced Landscape Management (ELM) provides commercial landscape management services throughout San Diego County from our Oceanside location.
Our approach goes beyond mowing, trimming and appearance. We look at the overall health and performance of the landscape, including plant health, irrigation, water management and changing site conditions.
For properties incorporating bioswales, vegetated stormwater areas and other green infrastructure, that broader perspective is increasingly important.
Working alongside property managers, HOAs, facility teams and other project professionals, ELM can help support the landscape-related maintenance needs of these specialized areas while identifying conditions that may require attention from the property’s appropriate stormwater, engineering or other technical professionals.
For additional information about commercial landscape services, explore our commercial landscape maintenance services and learn more about our irrigation management services.
Because a well-maintained landscape should do more than look good.
It should perform.
Looking for Stormwater Landscape Maintenance in San Diego County?
If your property includes bioswales, biofiltration areas, vegetated BMPs or other green infrastructure, Enhanced Landscape Management can help you develop a landscape maintenance approach that supports healthy plants, efficient irrigation and the long-term appearance and performance of your property.
Contact Enhanced Landscape Management’s Oceanside team to discuss commercial landscape management and stormwater landscape maintenance for your San Diego County property.
