GEPS: an urban Low Impact Development game-changer
- Kavin Venkat
- May 2
- 2 min read
Urban stormwater management faces critical challenges as cities expand, but Exlterra’s Groundwater Energy Passive System (GEPS) offers an innovative solution. This technology maximizes infiltration in space-constrained environments while ensuring environmental safety and can be used standalone or alongside existing low-impact development (LID) systems.
How GEPS Maximizes Infiltration in Tight Spaces
GEPS leverages volumetric distribution to overcome surface area limitations. When stormwater enters a soil volume where GEPS is present, it passively and naturally flows underground in all three axes of physical space (vertical and lateral) and is dispersed across a vastly expanded soil footprint.
A single 40-foot GEPS unit can redistribute water across 8,495 sq. ft of soil beneath the ground.
This approach ensures efficient water absorption even in dense urban settings, where traditional stormwater solutions typically require larger footprints.
GEPS as a standalone Low Impact Development technology
GEPS follows the principles of Low Impact Development (LID) by virtue of its design, installation, and effects:
GEPS is a completely passive technology that leverages the natural behaviors and properties of soil and water to boost their interaction.
GEPS minimizes the impact of ground compaction and runoff generated by impervious surfaces by enhancing the infiltration rate of soils and giving water more space in the ground to distribute.
GEPS manages stormwater at the source instead of moving it elsewhere.
GEPS is installed without the need for excavation or other invasive processes, and spaces where GEPS has been installed are usable as soon as work is complete.
GEPS can be implemented in microscale projects where space is limited, or scaled up to cover large areas.
GEPS is maintenance-free as a passive technology, and does not require any power or other infrastructure to bring its benefits to a project.
Additionally, GEPS has no negative environmental impact:
Studies have shown that even with a stormwater infiltration rate increase of up to 10.2x, GEPS does not accelerate the movement of contaminants within a soil volume.
Studies tracking the levels of both chemical and microbial contaminants (chlorides and E.Coli) showed no impact on their levels within the groundwater, even as GEPS decreased the runoff load to existing stormwater systems by 80%.
GEPS as a supporting Low Impact Development Technology
Existing stormwater LID solutions can be significantly improved by introducing GEPS into a project. Better infiltration rates and increased stormwater storage capacity in the underground soil volume can help existing solutions achieve better performance, remediate failed solutions, or even allow solutions to be implemented in situations that wouldn't gain approval otherwise.
Interested? Learn more or find a licensed installer near you today!
Comments