Replace concrete or asphalt slabs with pavers. You can use paving stones or bricks for patios, walkways, and driveways. Water can seep down into the spaces between the individual pavers, thus reducing the amount of runoff. Take out the center of your driveway. Only the tires of your car touch the ground, so two strips of pavement should suffice for a driveway. You can then plant grass or mulch the center of the driveway, reducing the amount of pavement substantially. Replace all or part of your driveway with the kind of pavers shown here. Low plants can even grow up between the openings. Replace the pavement at the bottom of your driveway with a French drain or grate. This will collect the water that falls on the rest of your driveway and allow it to soak into the ground, rather than flowing into the and, eventually, into waterways. Installing a French drain with the capacity to take in all the runoff from your driveway can be very expensive, but every little bit helps. If an area must be paved, use porous asphalt or permeable concrete, which will allow at least some water to soak into the ground. Keep in mind that the effectiveness of these materials is limited because water tends to run off them before it can permeate them, especially if there’s any slope. It’s also important to make sure there is a percolation field of permeable ground beneath the pavement.
A berm does not need to be strictly soil. You can put larger organic material in there to fill up space and put the dirt on top of that, then plant something on top of the berm. Before making any changes to your yard, make sure to observe what’s happening with the water during a rain, so you can divert it correctly.
