As part of the Smart Sewer Program, Benesch was contracted to conduct a green infrastructure demonstration within the Northeast Industrial Area watershed. The purpose of the project is to assess new techniques to capture storm water runoff prior to entering the combined sewer system. Smart Sewer’s long term control plan calls for additional green infrastructure to achieve an equivalent, or higher, level of control downstream in place of grey infrastructure.
The primary objective is to access the effectiveness of green infrastructure stormwater runoff storage as a method of reducing the frequency of overflows in the downstream and industrial areas of the combined sewer system. While several more traditional options are available to meet this objective, Smart Sewer is interested in using green infrastructure for the added benefits it offers. Those benefits include, but are not limited to, improvements in water quality, community revitalization and promotion of groundwater recharge.
The first project advancing through final design includes the installation of BMPs at two locations: along Gardner Avenue and within Nicholson Ball Diamond park. The BMPs along Gardner Avenue include the bioretention basins with native plants, such as trees that have been selected to promote phytoremediation of the pollutants common in the rainfall runoff within this industrial area. Our team designed a five cell bioretention basin at Nicholson Ball Diamond Park that includes two large gravel wetland cells and three smaller raingarden cells. Each BMP was selected and designed to function within an area of light industrial use and little to no topographic relief.