Actaeon installs stormwater management systems — including retention basins, bioswales, inlet protection, and erosion controls — for residential and commercial properties in Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

Water is patient. It finds every low spot, every gap in a joint, every shortcut it can take toward your foundation. Stormwater management is the discipline of redirecting that patience away from your house and into a system that can handle it — permanently, at scale, through every storm the Mid-Atlantic climate sends.

What we mean by stormwater management

Stormwater management isn't a single product. It's a site-specific system that coordinates grading, surface drainage, subsurface drainage, and controlled discharge so that every drop of rain that falls on a property leaves the property without causing damage on the way out. At the residential scale, that usually means some combination of swales, French drains, surface inlets, buried downspout extensions, dry wells, and — where sites drain to public infrastructure — proper connection to municipal stormwater networks.

Done poorly, stormwater work looks like a bunch of pipes in a yard. Done correctly, you can't tell it's there. The yard drains. The basement stays dry. The foundation doesn't heave. The retaining walls don't push out. That's the only measure of success that matters.

Why the DMV region makes proper drainage non-negotiable

Montgomery County, Howard County, and the DC neighborhoods sit on clay-heavy soils that don't drain well naturally. Combine that with mature tree canopies (which create root competition for what little infiltration happens), dense residential lots (which push neighbor water toward your foundation), and the region's storm patterns — where a single afternoon thunderstorm can drop two inches in an hour — and you have a climate where cutting corners on drainage shows up fast.

Most houses in the DMV were built before stormwater regulations were meaningful. The grading around the foundation is often flat, the downspout extensions are too short, and the swales between properties have been filled in by decades of landscaping. That's why properties that were fine for 40 years start having basement problems — the water patterns didn't change, but the infrastructure around them did.

Our installation process

  • Site evaluation. We walk the property during or immediately after a storm when possible. Water tells its own story — you can see exactly where it's collecting, where it's moving, and where the problems are. We map grade changes, identify the low spots, and note where existing drainage is failing.
  • System design. A written plan specifying slopes, pipe sizes, inlet locations, discharge points, and any required permits. We size every component for the design storm — not the average storm.
  • Permitting where required. Some Montgomery County and Howard County projects require sediment control or stormwater permits. We handle applications, inspections, and sign-offs so nothing stalls.
  • Construction. Excavation, pipe installation, connections, backfill in proper lifts, final grading. We protect existing landscape and hardscape throughout.
  • Discharge and restoration. Water goes where it's supposed to go. Turf, plantings, and any disturbed surfaces are restored.

The components we commonly install

Surface grading and swales

The first line of defense. When the grade around the foundation slopes correctly away from the house and the yard has engineered low points to collect runoff, half of most drainage problems disappear without a single pipe being installed.

French drains

A perforated pipe in a gravel trench, wrapped in filter fabric, sloped to discharge. Handles subsurface water — the kind that saturates lawns and seeps into basements. More on French drains.

Surface inlets and catch basins

Where water pools on the surface — low spots in lawns, paved areas, patios — surface inlets collect it and route it into the buried drainage network. Proper grading into the inlet is as important as the inlet itself.

Downspout extensions

Roof runoff is the single largest source of water near a foundation. Proper downspout extensions move roof water at least ten feet away from the building, usually into the same conveyance system handling surface water.

Dry wells and infiltration

On sites where discharge to storm drains or daylight isn't possible, dry wells provide controlled infiltration — letting water soak into the ground in a location where it won't cause damage.

When to call us

Call as soon as you see the signs — pooling water that lasts more than a day, damp basement walls, soil erosion, mulch that keeps washing out, mushrooms growing where they shouldn't, or efflorescence (white powder) on foundation walls. These are all water telling you something is wrong. The fix is much cheaper before the foundation moves than after.