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- Engineering firm will work on a design to assist in stormwater drainage issues
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By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Mona residents have on-going problems with stormwater running down the streets and sidewalks because the old drainage ditches no longer exist.
"We had a 50-year rain storm and on 600 South the water had no place to go," said Greg Newton, mayor. "There were six-inches of water on one lawn."
Jesse Ralphs, representing Sunrise Engineering, will have his engineering firm work on a design, at the request of the council, to address stormwater runoff and to find permanent solutions to the problem.
CIB may help the city with the necessary funding to do the stormwater drainage plan for the city, he said.
"The problem is that homeowners have covered the culverts," said Frank Riding, council member.
New homes that have been built have taken their yard decorations, plantings, gravel, rock decorations and grass to the very edge of the road. Most driveways have culverts but those culverts are blocked on the ends from actually taking rainwater away from the properties.
The result is streets that become rivers during heavy rain storms and deep snow melts.
"Why didn't the city stop the homeowners from doing that?" asked Jeff Smith, council member.
Perhaps the city should just take a bulldozer blade and dig along the side of the road to make a waterway for stormwater.
"What we need is a city stormwater master plan," said Lynn Ingram, city planning commission chairman. "The more we grow, the more stormwater we generate."
That was because there was no longer areas for the stormwater to percolate into the soil. Instead, the concrete driveways, parking areas, roofs of homes and roofs on other structures generated runoff, not water that would seep into the soil.
Stormwater runoff occurs when precipitation from rain or snowmelt flows over the ground. Impervious surfaces like driveways, sidewalks, and streets prevent stormwater runoff from naturally soaking into the ground.
Having a master plan would allow the city to tell developers in the future that they must meet certain criteria for handling stormwater drainage on the property they were planning to develop. That may mean constructing retention ponds, bioswales, infiltration trenches, and wetlands or installing sumps.
It would also direct developers to use an accepted plan for moving stormwater through the community.
Ralphs said that the stormwater master plan would consider elevations and the best way to move the water through the city by providing a system-wide approach.
In the Patrick Painter subdivision, said Ingram, the problem had been addressed in the design phase.
Smith said that he had obtained three bids for dealing with the stormwater problem right away. The bids were given, however, on different specs. Each bidder had proposed what that bidder thought was the best way to handle the stormwater from sumps to pipes to curb and gutter.
"The bids range from $65,000 to $125,000," said Smith.
Bill Mills, former mayor, said that he thought all the bidders should bid on the same specs. They could all bid on the same three approaches to see which was least expensive for the city. He said that a city employee had already cleaned out some culverts and, in that area, it had helped.
Molli Graham, council member, said it was time to have the engineering done and to then have them call for bids, to have plans and specs to be bid on, and to do a bid analysis before the final bid was awarded. She said she wanted some recommendations from Sunrise.
"We can do what is needed," said Ralphs. "We have given you three different options on Main Street which had the elevations and the control points."
In the 600 South area, the engineering firm had already done the survey work.
"We need to look at the whole system," he said. "If you just consider curb and gutter, you are looking at $60,000 to $70,000."
A storm drain could be built in the lowest part of the system.
"Why can't we put the stormwater into the sewer system?" asked Jonathan Jones, council member.
That was not wise for several reasons, said Ralphs. For one, there are potential contaminants that the water may be carrying. For another, the plant is already being used to treat sewage and purify it.
Polluted stormwater runoff generally happens anywhere people use or alter the land. People going about their daily lives are the number one source of stormwater pollutants. Some common examples include over fertilizing lawns, excessive pesticide use, agricultural activities, not picking up pet waste, using salt or fertilizer to de-ice driveways, roadway surfaces, malfunctioning septic systems. letting oil drip out of their vehicles and littering.
"I would recommend that you stay away from a combined system," said Ralphs. "Some water is already going down manholes."
In addition, said Mills, the water from the city that ends up, ultimately, in Mona Reservoir is claimed by Goshen water users. That group was not happy to have the sewer system built.
"Stormwater goes to the reservoir," said Allen Pay, water master. "People along the route have filled in the irrigation ditches. That should be redesigned and rebuilt."
The property where homeowners have landscaped right up to the edge of the road have encroached on city property. The property belongs to the city and should be preserved for flood prevention.
Mona ground will still take water, said Ingram.
Water in Mona runs from the east to the west and from the south to the north.
"One of the basements along the way is going to get flooded," said Newton. "Something needs to be done before winter."
Ralphs said that he would have the hydrology engineers look at what Mona was considering and would return to the council.
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