Aw shucks. 8-)
Sent on the run just for you!
Sent on the run just for you!
Yet another reminder of what a neighborhood treasure John Salatti is.
From: john.salatti@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2012 14:01:12 -0400
Subject: Re: [BloomingdaleActionList] Flooding
To: bloomingdaleactionlist@googlegroups.com
First, my condolences to any of you who have taken on water. That really sucks; there's no other way to say it.
Second, regarding what has been done, let me start by saying that I've lived here eight years and this is the fourth major flood since 2001 (2001, 2006, 2010, 2012), along with some minor ones in between. After the 2006 event, DC Water did a significant investigation into the infrastructure in the neighborhood. The investigation revealed some cracked pipes on Flagler Place, an inadequate sewer line on Thomas, and an inadequate number of catch basins on Thomas and U. DC Water then proceeded to address all those problems. By 2010, Flagler had gotten its pipes repaired and new catch basins were installed at U Street & Flagler Place. On Thomas, the entire street was ripped out, new sewer and water lines were put in, the street was lowered two inches to provide deeper gutters (now about 6 inches; in comparison, on U Street our gutters near St. George's for example are two inches). So Thomas got a real makeover.
BUT DC Water made clear from the start of the investigation until after the Thomas construction was done that these changes would help only in mild rain events. And previously Thomas did flood occasionally during what might otherwise be called moderate rains. Since the construction, Thomas has indeed done better. But again, the fixes make a difference only during modest rain events. During modest events, the key to avoiding flooding is getting water off the streets as quickly as possible so that water doesn't jump the curbs and eventually end up coming into English basements from the front door. In these situations, the problem is not system-wide capacity, it is inadequate neighborhood infrastructure. The changes on Thomas have definitely made a difference getting water off the street and into the storm sewers quicker than previously.
But what we experienced yesterday was a major rain event. Nothing DC Water did on Thomas and nothing else the agency can do in the short term can affect the kind of problem we experienced yesterday. The flooding that occurred was a result of a lack of system capacity and not inadequate neighborhood infrastructure. The only fix for that is the $2.6 billion project that DC Water has started, but that will not be completed and functioning for more than a decade.
So while all of us should keep an eye on catch basins to make sure that the openings are not obstructed and that the basins are draining properly, whenever we get a big rain, what happened yesterday is likely to happen again. This is why many of us keep sandbags around to protect the entrances to our basements. But sandbags won't help people who have finished basements with toilets and showers but don't have backflow valves. Even if water does not come in from the doors, it can often back up through indoor plumbing creating an even bigger mess.
If you have any concerns about a particular catch basin, feel free to send me the location of the basin and the nature of the concern. I can then bring that to DC Water's attention. We've worked well together to clean dysfunctional catch basins, e.g., the one on the unit block of Florida Avenue that used to create what local dubbed "Lake Florida" every time it rained.
Third, I have invited DC Water reps to come to Monday's BCA meeting and they have accepted. Please bring your questions.
Take care,
John
John T. Salatti
Vice President, Bloomingdale Civic Association
(202) 986-2592
"Together, Building a Better Bloomingdale"
On Wed, Jul 11, 2012 at 12:16 PM, Betsy McDaniel <bloomingdame@gmail.com> wrote:
Don't know how many of you experienced flooding last night, but talk of future plans needs to switch to current plans.(Ran into Hugh this morning - told him I am going to jam some water runoff talk into my HPRB testimony tomorrow. )My basement flooded. All of the neighbors had flooding. My architect's house flooded, plus his new car is now being towed away because of water damage.John- or anyone- what did they do a couple of years ago to improve the problem on Thomas? Did it work last night?
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