SEA Street is located in the Pipers Creek watershed. It was Seattle Public Utilities’ first project to explore the alternative drainage and street design approach now known as Natural Drainage Systems. The project could be expanded to Ballard.
Select streets in Ballard subject to sewer overflow might be next on Seattle Public Utilities’ (SPU) list of potential natural drainage system projects.
SPU’s Tracy Tackett presented the proposed project, called Ballard Green Streets, to members of the Ballard District Council Wednesday.
According to SPU, an natural drainage system helps limit the negative impacts of storm water runoff by redesigning residential streets with vegetation that can more easily absorb the excess water.
Tackett said sewer overflow happens when storm and waste water flow into a single pipe, causing them to back-up and discharge. According to SPU’s Web site, this storm water run-off can erode stream channels, contaminate water and disrupt marine food chains.
“The main role of these street projects is to come up with a way of solving the problem that offers multiple benefits to the community,” Tackett said.
Tackett listed green space, aesthetic appeal, shade and traffic calming as a few of the benefits of atural drainage systems.
Successful natural drainage system’s have already been built in several Seattle neighborhoods. One project, the Seattle Edge Alternatives Project (SEA Streets) located on 2nd Avenue Northwest, reduced the total volume of storm water leaving the street by 99 percent.
The Ballard Green Streets project would focus on the 10-block area between Northwest 75th and Northwest 85th and 28th Avenue Northwest to 32nd Avenue Northwest.
Tackett said a letter describing the proposed project will be sent to residents within the 10-block zone either in May or June.
For more information on natural drainage systems, visit SPU’s Web site at http://www.seattle.gov/util/services/.
