Infiltration basins must be carefully designed to infiltrate the soil on a given site at a rate that will not cause flooding.  They may be less effective in areas with:
* High groundwater levels, close to the infiltrating surface
* Compacted soils
* High levels of sediment in stormwater
* High clay soil content.
At some sites infiltration basins have worked effectively where the installation also includes an extended detention basin as a pretreatment stage, to remove sediment. The basins may fail where they cannot be frequently maintained, and their use is discouraged in some areas of the United States. For example, they are not recommended for use in the U.S. state of Georgia, which has many areas with high clay soil content, unless soil on the particular site is modified ("engineered soil") during construction, to improve the infiltration characteristics.