A “green ribbon” cutting was held this week to celebrate the Upper Darby Township’s Second Ward Park Stormwater Demonstration Projects opening in Delaware County.

State-of-art stormwater Best Management Practices were installed during recent park renovations that will help manage stormwater, reduce pollution from entering nearby Cobbs Creek and minimize flooding in the area during heavy rains.

The stormwater BMPs at Second Ward Park include:

Porous pavement basketball courts – Upper Darby’s new basketball courts have an underground stormwater storage/infiltration system. That means rain water landing on the courts will percolate through tiny spaces, or pores, in the asphalt and collect in an underground storage bed. From there, rain water soaks into the ground below.

This stormwater management practice reduces the amount of stormwater that flows into the storm sewer system during storms, while slowly recharging groundwater and creeks over time in a more natural and less damaging manner. For players, this means more court time since porous asphalt will dry more quickly after a rain.

Shallow grassy infiltration basin – The newly planted basin area will help control flooding and protect nearby Cobbs Creek from the damaging effects of stormwater runoff.

Tree trench - Lining the park’s southern edge, this stormwater management practice will control stormwater runoff from the parking lot, increase evaporation of stormwater runoff and has the added benefit of providing some shade in the hot summer months.

“This is a great opportunity to showcase a stormwater BMP retrofit,” said Gwyn Rowland, Director of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s Watershed Programs, “Upper Darby Township responded to its residents’ desire for basketball courts, which also presented itself as an opportunity to improve the stormwater management of an existing site. It’s a win for both the community and its natural resources.”

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council served as an advisor for this project.

10/27/2006