Regional Project Profile
Lower Providence Township Basin Naturalization Project – Basin 13
Skyline Circle and Featherbed Lane

Category: Implemented Retrofit Design
Type of BMP: Naturalized Infiltration Basin

| Description | Location | Partners | Cost | Contact |

The naturalized basin conversion project began in 2002. The project involved retrofitting six existing, mown grass stormwater detention basins into naturalized infiltration basins. The project naturalized five basins by the summer of 2003 and fully converted a sixth basin by the spring 2004.

The goals of the project included improved aesthetics, improved water quality, decreased stream temperature, increased groundwater infiltration, and a cost saving to the Township in the form of decreased mowing requirements.

In the spring 2003, volunteers planted shrubs and trees in Basin 13. The existing turf grass was eliminated in April and May by applying a systemic, non-selective and non-residual herbicide. Meadow seed mixes were planted, including three separate seed mixes - a floodplain mix on the bottom, a showy upland mix on the side slopes, and a general detention basin mix throughout the entire basin. Volunteers, including school groups and neighbors, also planted approximately 350 perennial plugs in the bottom of the basin.

Project results include: the successful restoration of a traditional stormwater management basin to a more natural condition; the reduction of municipal maintenance requirements; a more aesthetically diverse landscape; and enhanced wildlife habitat. (Please note that water quality samples were taken but the results were inconclusive.) The basin will be monitored by a series of maintenance procedures developed with input from several sources, including landscape architects and land managers familiar with naturalized basins and the owner of a native plant nursery.

To educate and involve the surrounding community, an educational brochure describing the benefits of naturalized stormwater basins was created and distributed. Public workshops at the Township Building informed homeowners living adjacent to the basins and other interested parties. In addition, informational signs installed at each basin upon completion educate the general public about the project.

County:         Montgomery County
Watershed:   Perkiomen Creek

Basin 13 occupies a 25,875 square foot corner site on Skyline Circle and Featherbed Lane within Lower Providence Township in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The lawn-covered basin is delineated by a split rail and wire mesh fence. The side of one house sits adjacent to the long side of the basin. A landscaped buffer of trees and shrubs separates the rear of the basin from another home.
 

$98,795.00 (Total for all six basins.)
Funded by a Growing Greener Grant, provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
 

Lower Providence Township
100 Parklane Drive Eagleville, PA 19403
Phone: (610) 539-8020