Location
Burlington Country Club on Spear Street, across from the Miller Research Farm
Problem
Potash Brook is one of five stormwater impaired waterbodies in South Burlington. Uncontrolled stormwater runoff creates significant erosion of stream banks, along with discharging phosphorus, nitrogen and bacteria pollution to both Potash Brook and Lake Champlain.
The City is in the process of designing and constructing projects with the potential to reduce flows in Potash Brook, restore the stream to health, and satisfy requirements in the City’s MS4 permit. The Burlington Country Club (BCC) project was first identified in the Potash Brook Flow Restoration Plan (FRP) and has remained a high priority for the restoration of Potash Brook since that time.
Description
The City of South Burlington Stormwater Utility received a grant to design a subsurface gravel wetland on an unused piece of property owned by the Burlington Country Club. The project includes the design to allow for the treatment of stormwater runoff form 5 acres of impervious surfaces.
Benefit
The project reduces the peak flow of the 1-year, 24-hour storm event by 97%, from 21.82 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 0.67 cfs and filters the water quality volume from 5 acres of impervious surfaces, reducing the amount of phosphorous going to Lake Champlain by 10.5 kg per year.
Timeline
Construction began in August of 2022 and will be wrapped up June of 2023.