The outlet of a northern Davis County storm drainage project is being redesigned to meet federal wetland conservation regulations, Public Works Director Sid Smith said this week.
The project, which will serve Sunset, Clinton, and West Point, ran afoul of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency designated to protect the wetlands and marshes around the Great Salt Lake.Smith said the original design submitted to the corps for approval reduced the protected wetlands by about eight acres, and the corps sent the plan back for redesign.
A new proposal, approved this week by the Davis County Commissioners, makes some changes at the project's outlet that restores the acreage, Smith said.
"We're making some minor changes in the project that will enhance the wetlands," Smith said. "We're adding a holding pond and putting in rock check dams avery 500 feet that will hold the water back, making ponds and marshes."
Smith said the net result of the project will be to replace what he called "marginal wetland area" with enhanced wetlands, a better habitat and more supportive of marsh wildlife.
Although not included in the current plan, Smith said the holding pond, designed to collect storm runoff from streets, parking lots, and sidewalks, can have a pollution control skimmer added to it in the future.
The Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing regulations that could require storm sewer systems to have pollution control devices in the future, Smith said.