The John G Clark Park Neighborhood of Champaign, Illinois, USA
John Street Watershed Drainage
Drain unto others as you would have others Drain unto you.
I would argue that increasing downstream capacity is one way to ease flooding, but we should also promote ways of holding excess water upstream as long as we can. So rather than just paving an expanded driveway, or build an addition or garage, also consider putting in a water garden or adding rain barrels. No matter how much we increase the size of our storm sewers, there will be storms that overflow them, so if your yard has a natural overflow path for storm water, don't block it with your new garage or addition or fence or berm. Instead, design to hold the rain water and let it charge the soil, and keep your trees and garden well watered. -- Mike Feldman 2009-Feb-26 22:30
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
South Side School Gym
712 S. Pine Street
This meeting will provide an overview of the flooding problem and how we are planning to ease this situation. There will be an opportunity for questions. Please mark your calendar and plan to attend. You can use this printable version of the February 25th Meeting Flyer (PDF) as a reminder - place it on your refrigerator or wherever you place reminders.
Reasons to Attend:
- City Public Works Staff will explain issues about our storm and sanitary drainage
- Update on Clark-Dietz Drainage Study - Learn about recommendations
- Return your questionnaire
- Get involved with the Steering Committee
A printable copy of the survey is here (PDF).
An online version of the survey is here (Google spreadsheet).
We need your input on any flooding you experienced in your home. Please complete the survey questionnaire above either online or print it and bring it to the meeting, mail it, or drop it off at locations listed on the form.
Current committee members are Steve Cochran, Mike Feldman, Milt Forsberg, Brian Knox, Kim Nystrom, Tom O'Rourke, Pattsi Petrie, Taya Ross, Barb Strauss, David Swinford, and Nancy Taylor.
Barbara Kucera's photos of the John and Prospect intersection after the 9 July 2003 storm which totaled 5 3/4 inches in 24 hours.
Kurt Baumgartner's photos after the 6 July 2004 storm which dropped an inch of rain in an hour.
We had a meeting with Public works back on the 7th of April. Here are Alex Nagy's meeting minutes.
On Wednesday the 20th we got over an inch an hour of rain late in the afternoon and 2.24 inches over the 24 hour period. The Daniel and Willis intersection filled up quickly and drained quickly. No one reported any back-flow from the storm drain into their basement in the 900 block of Daniel, so the check-valve seems to be working.
12 January 2005 8:25 AM -- Mike Feldman
I can hear the jackhammer -- they're working on the NE corner.
Note that rainfall maps are now online from the Water Survey.
11 January 2005 -- Mike Feldman
In December the City Jet Rodded and TV inspected the storm drains at
Daniel and Willis, and removed a couple of streetlight ground rods that had been
driven through the drain tile. Alex from Public Works reports that contruction
company, A&R Services, will start soon to add larger inlets and a check valve.
Tonight we had enough rain (over an inch) on saturated ground to cause my basement floor
drain to back up (surcharge); here's photos with and without a PVC pipe in place to
block the drain:
This is what I hope the check valve will prevent.
28 October 2004 -- Mike Feldman
City of Champaign Public Works Department reports that construction of
enlarged storm drain inlets at the corner of
Daniel and Willis will occur in November 2004.
This is being done as an attempt to reduce the amount and duration
of flooding in the intersection although it is not clear if it
will help, hurt, or make little difference.
If the enlargement makes the flooding worse, it can be restricted or
undone.
The work is being done out of the current Public Works budget and does
not
envolve any additional assessments to property owners.
In addition to the inlet enlargement, and if there is no serious objection from any of the property owners adjacent to the intersection and on the 900 block of West Daniel Street, the City proposes a test installation of an anti-backflow device on the storm drain pipe where it enters the collection box in the intersection. Again, the cost is covered by the inlet improvement budget, and can be removed or disabled if problems result.
An example of the duckbill type of check-valve can be seen
at
one
manufacturer's webpage (not necessarily the proposed vendor).
Further discussion is at the
drainage mailing list archive.
If anyone has photos or other information that you would allow me to link to this page, or would provide a copy for this site, please contact me through the mailing list or directly.
-- Mike Feldman - 29 Aug 2004
Here's a bird's eye view drawing of Champaign from 1884 that shows the stream running through the modern John and Prospect intersection.
Here's a 1913 map of showing the Chamber of Commerce addition. I've drawn in where the stream was and ponding is.
