CITY OF WAUKEE By Heather Behrens
Rescuing Rainfall:
Enhancing water quality through the Stormwater Grant Program The City of Waukee offers a Stormwater Grant Program that helps cover costs on projects that will improve stormwater quality and reduce run-off into storm sewers. These projects not only benefit the individual property owners but the broader community. Implementing ‘rainscaping’ practices and other stormwater projects at home can engage natural processes to filter pollutants, reduce localized flash flooding and lessen the burden on the sewer system. “I was meeting with people who had wet backyards, drainage concerns and streambank erosion on their private property,” said Sara Kappos, Assistant Director of Engineering, Public Works. “Starting the Stormwater Grant Program gave the City a way to help property owners solve those problems.”
“The cost to take on a project of this size is astonishing. The pond had just gone through a dredging project, reducing the reserve fund drastically,” said Lisa Logsdon, Association Manager.
Kappos had seen a grant program in action in other metro communities, which served as a model to replicate in Waukee. At Waukee.org, information on stormwater management practices gives property owners a starting point.
The HOA received a $20,000 grant for the more than $60,000 project. They engaged Thiel Construction to install the rip-rap along the pond, which collects rainfall runoff to help with flood control and pollutant removal.
They can apply for funds to help them enhance drainage, improve stormwater quality, or repair stormwater facilities such as swales, streambanks and drain tile. “I much prefer being able to offer help. Plus, these improvements have a broader benefit to the community as well as the individual property,” Kappos said. This year, the program made two of its largest grants to date.
Rip-rap combines function and beauty In response to erosion along their retention pond, the Willow Brook Townhomes HOA board landed on riprap as the best solution to stabilize the bank. Rip-rap is large stones placed along a shoreline or slope to reduce erosion. Left unchecked, erosion would increase the frequency of expensive dredging of the pond to maintain storage capacity. 4
November / December 2022
“Thanks to the City of Waukee Stormwater Grant we were able to accomplish this project.”
Collaboration creates downstream impact In Painted Woods, the program awarded $15,000 toward a $30,000 streambank stabilization project. Three neighbors worked together on the stabilization project that also benefits property owners downstream. Kappos noted that erosion along the stream in their backyards was already concerning. Without correction, sediment would continue traveling downstream. As sediment builds up, it can change the path of the stream over time or reduce storage capacity in retention ponds downstream. It would also leave the slope unstable, which could wear away at the residents’ backyards or even cause safety hazards. Photos of the rip-rap rocks along the Willow Brook Townhomes
