City engineers expect Garden District flooding data by early December

Sept. 24--A small camera on a RC-like car whirs below the streets of Montgomery, snaking through pipes that line the subterranean landscape.

It inches past mildewed walls, garbage, leaves, tree roots and other debris washed down into the city's drainage pipes. As it moves, engineers track the $125,000 machine's progress and create a miles-long log that details the health of Montgomery's infrastructure.

The survey efforts by the the city of Montgomery's Engineering and Environmental Services will help stem flooding in the Garden District, a problematic area in a city with numerous water-level issues throughout the flood-prone region. Engineers hope to solve the neighborhood's problems while using the new devices to address complaints throughout the city.

Recently, the city met with Garden District residents to brief them on their work, and experts expect models to be produced within 60 days that will give them a better idea of how to stem the flow.

"We aren't done yet. This is still a work in progress," said Patrick Dunson, city engineer, as he talked to home owners at their neighborhood meeting. Right now, there is a running theory that a strip of drainage pipe along Hull Street may be the culprit causing the overflow.

If that is the case, Dunson said they can begin to make plans for a fix, which could be as simple as running a second pipe along the first to increase the water capacity of the pipes. So far, the study has been approved for a $75,000 contract. That doesn't include what the actual fixes may cost.

The Garden District area, which is about 200 acres, is a part of a much larger drainage path -- the 3,000 acre Ganetta Watershed. There is a ditch that runs through the middle of the Ganetta that can handle massive flows of water. During heavy rains, Dunson said it resembles a river.

If the study finds that the flow is actually a backup from the Ganetta ditch, that will prove problematic. Dunson said any fixes to that massive ditch would likely be cost-prohibitive.

The city has already torn up one section of the street and removed a tree root that had run into a pipe. A common issue, Dunson said.

"Trees are great, provide great aesthetics and shade, but they can give us some issues," he said.

On an overcast Monday, where the water sat in the air with humidity instead of the streets, some Garden District residents acknowledged that the forested neighborhood produced numerous issues that are likely out of the city's hands.

Because of the natural inclines and slopes near the Keller family's home on Felder Avenue, their yard often acts as a runway for heavy water flowing west from Norman Bridge Road toward Hull Street.

Donna Keller said the water doesn't sit long, but every strong rain brings a significant volume of water through their yard. Her husband, Don Keller, said they came outside one day and couldn't see their neighbor's pool because the yard had been flooded.

"It's been like this forever," said Garden District resident Fleming Pruett. The layout of the neighborhood has remained essentially the same for years, he said, unlike development out east. Dunson said some of the systems are more than 100 years old.

Considering that, Pruett said he doesn't fault the city for flooding issues, instead lamenting that the neighborhood could do more to clean storm drains of debris and not purposefully put yard waste in them.

Dunson agreed with that, and said citizens that bag leaves help the city collect debris before it blows into drainage systems. He also recommended that residents get flood insurance and check Federal Emergency Management Agency flood plain maps when purchasing a home because large swaths of the city are in flood-prone areas.

The Garden District project originally came to fruition after several citizens complaints made their way to the Montgomery City Council, who scraped the funds together and organized the study. Many of the projects that engineering services takes on are found through aggregated complaints made in the 311 system, Dunson said.

There is another project planned for West Fleming Road in the southwestern part of town, he said. That area provides a different challenge because there is little actual drainage infrastructure there and the project requires installation, Dunson said.

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