Rainy Day at the Skate Park: Stormwater Management at the Providence Road Offline Storage Facility
Hampton Road Sanitation District’s (HRSD’s) Providence Road Offline Storage Facility is a 5.2 MG wet weather storage facility designed to help reduce sanitary sewer overflows. The facility was implemented within Virginia Beach’s Woodstock Park and incorporated a variety of new and improved park amenities, including a 30,000 square foot skate park integrated with the storage facility. The nature of the facility, skate park, and site constraints like limited topographic relief posed unique stormwater management challenges. For example, the relative elevation of skate park features heavily influenced drainage patterns, stormwater control selection and design. Site conditions and stormwater management needs resulted in the design and implementation of a suite of stormwater controls, including multiple bioretention areas, wet swales, a green roof, and rainwater harvesting. The rainwater harvesting cisterns were integrated directly into the concrete structure of the offline storage facility where they collect runoff from the facility rooftop and supplement the supply of water needed to flush the facility after use. Informational signage throughout the site educates visitors on the wastewater and stormwater management infrastructure incorporated throughout the park. The project demonstrates how wastewater infrastructure, stormwater management facilities, and park features can all be incorporated into a single site to provide significant environmental and community benefits.
Author Bio
Dr. Matthew Jones leads Hazen and Sawyer’s stormwater practice group and offers national expertise in all aspects of stormwater management, including the full lifecycle of stormwater control design, implementation and operation. Matthew has provided stormwater services for a wide array of communities, from large ultra-urban green infrastructure initiatives to small communities building an initial stormwater program. Alysondria Eason serves as one of Hazen and Sawyer’s lead engineers for green infrastructure and overall stormwater improvements. Her expertise focuses on localized and area-wide planning, design, tracking, monitoring and implementation of stormwater controls. She has played a key role in Hazen’s stormwater management efforts throughout the United States, including prominent green infrastructure initiatives in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Boston.
