March 3rd, 2009Category: Uncategorized
Waverly Schuylkill Planting Plan.pdf What are they going to plant in the Park.
The County has begun the Waverly stream restoration project .
Construction is expected to take 3-4 months with the goal of finishing everything around March-April 2009. Work will impact the asphalt trail that connects Schuylkill Road to the train station, so a mulch trail will be temporarily installed with safety fencing to minimize access disruptions.
Background: If one stands at the Waverly-Schuylkill park sign [at Garrett Park Road entrance, to Beach Drive] and faces East into the park, there are two small streams to your left and right. These steams feed into an underground pipe that flows into Rock Creek.
Presently these streams are undercutting or eroding their streambeds. This erosion is not due to increased rainfall, but from the hard concrete surfaces that cause rain runoff to be much stronger and more intense than before there were houses and roads. To the left, a covert underneath the CSX railroad tracks is diverting Garrett Park runoff into the park, increasing the water flow when it rains.
The new project has a”step-pool design.”. Heavy natural-looking stones will be arranged, to step down the stream into small pools, gradually slowing the water discharge. Additionally, sand will trucked in to stabilize the stream bed, and avoid mass loss. This step-pool design is natural-looking, but one will know its man-made.
RCA’ers discovered the stream erosion and brought the problem the attention of the County. Now the County is responding with a natural step-pool design.