Natural Treatment System Revisited
Edge of El Modena Park basin before plants grew in
Storm basin pump station performs during wet California winter.
Folks at Irvine Ranch Irrigation District (IRWD) in Orange County, Calif. are pleased with the performance of the El Modena Park storm basin, part of the San Diego Creek Natural Treatment System (www.naturaltreatmentsystem.org), a regional approach to treating urban runoff. In the first wet winter experience with the storm basin, some lessons have been learned while achieving nitrate removal.
During precipitation, runoff in the nearby flood control channel is diverted into the park’s man-made wetland. Besides reducing the direct flow into San Joaquin Marsh in the upper reach of Newport Bay, the constructed wetland is designed to naturally cleanse urban runoff before it reenters the channel. Plants at the perimeter of the basin help remove nitrates and other pollutants from the water. Keeping the water at just the right level for these plants to thrive, a key factor in biofiltration system’s success, is the job of the Romtec Utilities duplex submersible stormwater pumping system installed in 2008. Read more
An Innovative Solution to Building Capacity – reprint from Stormwater Solutions
3D view of Union City, Calif. stormwater pump station
Lift station, detention pond make Union City development possible
- By Megan Monson
Three years ago, officials in Union City, Calif., got some good news—and some bad news. The good news was that a developer was interested in building two major residential developments near the center of the city. The bad news? The storm drainage infrastructure in that area, the Line M channel, did not have the capacity to handle the additional runoff that the new construction would generate.
Ownership issues complicated the situation. The property slated for development was within Union City borders, but Alameda County was responsible for Line M, a concrete-lined open drainage channel that runs through the center of the city. With Line M at capacity, there was no way of discharging additional storm water, and that meant no development of any kind on the Union City site. Read more
