UMaine Facilities Management to Start Work on Stormwater Pond
Contact: Scott Wilkerson, (207) 581-3049 or scott.wilkerson@umit.maine.edu
ORONO – The University of Maine Office of Facilities Management will begin early next week a multi-part project to improve stormwater management on campus and keep in compliance with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
Starting around Aug. 9, the Belgrade Spur Detention Pond will be dredged and other areas near the site, which is off Belgrade Road, will be corrected and enhanced. The project is expected to done by Aug. 25.
No traffic interruptions are expected. Part of the lower section of the Belgrade parking lot near the pond will be closed to all but construction traffic.
Dredging of the pond, which collects stormwater runoff, is necessary because testing done last year for the first time revealed the pond was 19 percent over its original loss capacity. Maine DEP requires abatement if a detention pond is 15 or more over its capacity.
Around 500 cubic yards of sediment will be collected during the dredging process. The sediment, which found during testing to not have high levels of hazardous materials, will be piled on the embankment of the pond, where it will dry for several days before it is trucked to a disposal site.
The pond, which spills into a stream, is a human-made structure that was built about 10 years ago. It is not considered a wetland environment.
In addition to the dredging, the stones from a nearby spreader, which cools and slows stormwater as it enters the pond, will be removed temporarily. The base of the spreader will be cleared of weeds and other overgrowth, and then the stones will be replaced. A silt fence and swale, or low area of land, will also be built in order to keep stormwater flowing into the pond and away from nearby wetlands.
The university holds a MS4 (Municipal Storm Sewer Separation System) permit from the DEP. The permit requires its holder to maintain structures that reduce or eliminate pollutants going into a nearby water source.
Facilities management opted to carry out the work in August because water levels are at their annual lows from July 15 to Oct. 15.
The final cost of the project is expected to be around $40,000.
A similar detention pond near Nutting Hall was also surveyed last year and found to have had little to no increase in capacity.