Flooding is both an urban and rural problem
July 28, 2010

The extraordinary rain storms that created the flooding that took out the Lake Delhi dam in northeastern Iowa proceeded on to the east this past weekend, where they caused disastrous flooding in Chicagoland. The problem of stormwater flooding is compounded in urban areas by the large amount of natural soil that ends up being covered by concrete, buildings, and other impermeable materials, which serves to concentrate the runoff that is otherwise more diffuse in less-densely populated areas. Chicago has faced the flooding issue for decades, and is still in the construction phase of the $4 billion Deep Tunnel project (started in 1976), which is designed to store the metropolitan area's combined sanitary and storm sewer flows when heavy rains fall, so as not to overwhelm the capacity of the municipal wastewater treatment system. Combined sewer systems have come under considerable EPA scrutiny in recent years, and are being phased out by mandates and voluntary compliance agreements in most places.

The components of a good stormwater-management system include several products we represent, including pump stations, screening equipment, soil-reinforcement products, and sampling systems. Please feel free to contact us with your questions.

July 2010
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last revised July 2010