STEVEN NALLEY
Jason Wooten of Pepper-Wooten Engineers and Surveyors presented and proposed multiple alternatives to resolve stormwater drainage issues on Maple Drive and Carver Drive during Tuesday’s board of alderman meeting.
Wooten’s presentation was a result of a hydrology and hydraulics study of drainage systems on the two streets commissioned by the city. Wooten said both systems did not have the capacity for 100-year storms, a term assigned to a level of flood water with a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded each year. A 25-year flood, then, has a 4 percent chance of happening each year, and Wooten said the Maple Drive drainage system does not even have the capacity for that.
“From a design standpoint we can understand not quite being (prepared for) a 100-year event, but 25 is an eye-opener,” Wooten said.
Wooten presented two alternatives for mitigating the overflow of stormwater on Maple Drive.
First, he said, a new storm sewer could be installed behind houses to the south of the street. This plan allows for greater capacity than the second, Wooten said, and its construction would not interfere with traffic on Maple Drive itself or utilities for its residents. The drawback, he said, is the city would have to acquire easements from the property owners south of Maple Drive.
Second, Wooten said, the existing stormwater system could have its capacity boosted. While the city would not have to acquire property for this solution, it would interfere with utilities and traffic, and result in less capacity than the first proposal.
City Engineer Edward Kemp said the first plan would be cheaper by as much as $150,000.
When Wooten said the second proposition for Maple Drive would call for removal of a 36-inch culvert acting as a choke point in the system, Maple Drive resident Susan Shappley said the system had been flooding since before that culvert was installed. She then apologized for interrupting the presentation.
Read the complete article at Starkville Daily News.
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