District Hydraulic Engineer Jim Pillsbury, PE and Stormwater Technician Kathy Hamilton, RLA designed and coordinated the installation of buffer and porous concrete areas along a creek which runs through the Westmoreland County Community College Campus parking lot. These best management practices will help reduce the volume of stormwater runoff entering the creek from the parking lot by absorbing it into the ground. Less stormwater stress on this creek, which is a tributary of Sewickley Creek, will help control flooding downstream. This project was completed in partnership with the Sewickley Creek Watershed Association.
The images show Jim Pillsbury and Katy Hamiliton surveying the creek channel and workers installing a porous concrete sidewalk that will allow storm water to pass through into the ground.
These pictures show how acres of asphalt were rmoved and replaced with a grassed buffer and swale. Previously the asphalt allowed the water to pour into the creek at high speed. The buffer and swale will absorb the runoff and reduce the velocity of water flowing into the creek.
These pictures show another area where areas of asphalt was replaced with a rain garden which absorbs the rain water and uses it to nourish the plants and shrubs.