Stormwater Demonstration Project
Construction for this project
occurred in October 2007, with planting of raingardens occurring in
the Spring of 2008.
Our vision was to retrofit an
older area of River Falls that was constructed before storm water
management practices were installed.
Practices
Installed
Curb Bump Outs
The
curb line of the street was
bumped out into the existing parking lane of the
street and a curb cut provided in the gutter allows water into the
practice. The bump out area
is slightly depressed to allow water to
pond and soak into the ground
before overflowing to the
existing curb storm sewer
inlet.
▪▪These
were
installed on Dallas Street and were planted with native, long-rooted
grasses. The raingarden on Pearl Street also has a small bump out
area to increase the size of the raingarden.
Pervious Pavers
These pavers are
similar to regular pavers however
the they have bumps on the edges to create larger void spaces between
the pavers. These spaces are
then filled with a granular rock material which allows water to flow
through it into a storage layer
below and eventually infiltrate into the ground.
▪▪These
were
installed at the end of the alley to capture the runoff from the alley
and the garages along it.
Permeable
Concrete
This looks very
similar to regular concrete but it allows water to pass through it.
Many describe it looking similar to a rice krispie bar. This is
the first permeable concrete installed in this part of Wisconsin!
▪▪A
section of installed curb and
gutter was removed
on Walnut St. and replaced a
solid concrete curb and a permeable concrete gutter section.
Rain Gardens
Rain
gardens are shallow depressions
planted with flowers, grass or
shrubs, that collect stormwater and allow it to soak into the ground.
These gardens are taking street runoff through curb
cuts.
▪▪These
were
installed on Walnut Street and Pearl Street in October 2007 and planting
occurred in June 2008.
Project Background
This project stems out of the Lake
George Area Study completed in 2005. This study suggested
implementation of small scale infiltration practices on the west side
of the Kinnickinnic River. As a follow up to that study and
recommendation, representatives from the City, Trout Unlimited, the
Kinnickinnic River Land Trust and the Kinnickinnic River Priority
Watershed Project (which includes the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources and St. Croix County) met several times to discuss the
vision and goals of this project. Our vision is to retrofit an
older area of River Falls that was constructed before storm water
management practices were installed. We have targeted
two small sewersheds (each approximately 6 acres in size) to start a
demonstration project for small scale practices.
The City implemented
practices to capture and treat roadway runoff within one sewershed (area
draining to a storm sewer outfall on the Kinni) in addition to private
property improvements. Flow monitors have been installed in the
discharge pipes for each sewershed. We collected 2 years of
pre-construction data and hope to be able to determine effectiveness of
the installed practices with post-construction data. We expect that
this demonstration project will allow us to determine if there is enough
interest and general acceptance of these practices to consider
installing similar practices in other City storm sewersheds in the
future.
