Town of Windermere to begin stormwater drainage improvements

By the end of the summer, Windermere residents in the First Avenue and Forest Street area will notice significant stormwater drainage improvements.

The town awarded recently a bid for construction to All State Paving & Development Inc. to construct drainage infrastructure along First Avenue, Palm Street, Butler Street and Forest Street to improve water quality prior to discharging to Wauseon Bay.

In 2004, the town initiated an inventory and evaluation of various stormwater outfall locations to determine the extent of improvements needed for control and minimization of pollutants draining into the nearby lakes. This project was identified as one of the priority outfall improvement projects, and the town decided to conduct capital improvements to fix it.

“The project is partially funded by the South Florida Water Management District under Agreement No. 4600003529, with the condition that the project construction be completed by Sept. 30, 2018,” said Michael Galura, president and principal engineer of Michael Galura Engineering Consultants, which provided the project engineering analysis. “The SFWMD will be contributing $175,000 in construction funding.  The town will provide the remainder of the construction contract through monies generated from the Town Stormwater Utility and General Revenue funding.” 

“The SFWMD will be contributing $175,000 in construction funding.  The town will provide the remainder of the construction contract through monies generated from the Town Stormwater Utility and General Revenue funding.”— Michael Galura

Project improvements include the construction of a French Drain system to allow collected stormwater to filter through coarse, aggregate filter media and the underlying soil into a shallow aquifer. The excess stormwater runoff collected by the system will then go into a vegetated swale along the north side of First Avenue, which is controlled by a concrete weir. The weir acts as a regulator of the rate and volume of stormwater draining into Wauseon Bay.

“The project drains a watershed of approximately 23 acres of single-family residential with dirt streets that drain to Wauseon Bay,” Galura said. “There is little or no drainage infrastructure in existence within the project boundaries. The project will improve the collection and conveyance of stormwater runoff, will address any localized and repetitive flooding and will improve the quality of stormwater discharged to Wauseon Bay.”

According to the project executive summary, the town previously constructed the drainage infrastructure along Forest Street, including a sodded swale along First Avenue that was expanded to increase the treatment volume available and is controlled by a concrete weir. That project also included a 15-inch pipe that extends from Forest Street to the First Avenue swale, but the new project improvements will incorporate the features from the original project into the improved drainage infrastructure. 

In the end, the new filtration added will reduce the levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, suspended solids, heavy metals and more in the stormwater runoff.

Construction will not result in flooding of adjacent properties but rather improve the drainage conditions where flooding currently persists, Galura said. It also will improve the water-quality treatment for the area prior to its discharge into Wauseon Bay without eliminating or displacing any wildlife.

The project is estimated to take place over about 150 days, with expected completion by the end of July.