Crystal Lake Storm Water Projects - SPRING 2016
by Janice Bourque
Watershed storm water and rainwater are the only sources of water for Crystal Lake. This creates a great deal of pressure on Crystal Lake as all the runoff from the surrounding watershed and all of its pollutants and nutrients flow directly into the lake year round. The City completed an analysis of the storm drains on Lake Ave, on the specific retrofitting to accommodate the filters along with an analysis for storm water management and drain reconstruction work on Lake Terrace, Cronin’s Cove and Levingston Cove.
The Crystal Lake Conservancy walked Lake Ave with the City to to review the locations for additional phosphorus filters in the catch basins and the key drainage areas at Lake Terrace, Cronin’s Cove and Levingston Cove which handle the largest amount of storm water load from the watershed
Cronin’s Cove
Maria Rose, the City’s Environmental Engineer, and HighPoint Engineering established that the park part of Cronin’s cove is too small to install bio-swales. They plan to reconstruct the catch basin to accept the biofilters. Bio-swales will be installed at the corner of Trowbridge and Norwood and they will be working with the neighbors in that area.
Lake Terrace
The Engineering Division will prepare the plans and specifications for a storm water treatment system at the end of Lake Terrace. The City’s Professional Land Surveyor has already completed the surveying work and there is an initial conceptual design. The Utilities Division plans to pay for the construction of the Lake Terrace project. The project will need to be added to the list of Storm water Capital Projects and approved.
Levingston Cove
The pitch of the streets near Levingston Cove (Lakewood and Berwick) causes increased velocity of the storm water street runoff as it runs to Lake Ave. The velocity forces the runoff hitting the curbs alongside Levingston Cove to “jump the curb” causing significant erosion and flow of nutrient rich soil into Crystal Lake.
CLC will be working with the City of Newton Parks and Recreation Department to develop a plan to address the run off and subsequent erosion at Levingston Cove. With the help of Larry Beals of Beals Associates it appears that an attractive and well-designed terracing of the area will allow the runoff that hits and jumps the curb to be controlled and allowed to drain into the soil with the support of native plants for a terraced rain garden / storm water management project.
The $88,000 in State funds that the CLC helped obtain for the Newton Parks and Recreation Department under the MA Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) section of the budget may potentially be used for the remedial work at Levingston Cove.