CITY OF WAUKEE

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.” 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. 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. “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. “Thanks to the City of Waukee Stormwater Grant we were able to accomplish this project.” 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.

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

About the City of Waukee Stormwater Grant Program

The City of Waukee Stormwater Grant Program assists with stormwater management on private property. Grants can assist property owners with improving drainage, refining stormwater quality, or repairing stormwater facilities, such as swales, streambanks and drain tile. Recipients can be reimbursed for 50% of the qualifying expenses up to the maximum for that project type for a total of $5,000 per single family property, or $20,000 per HOA. Grants must be approved and awarded prior to the commencement of work. Examples of qualifying projects:

- Installation of a drain tile in a wet yard

- Measures to prevent erosion, including expenses for a contractor to place bank reinforcement

- Professional engineering services for the design of a stormwater best management practice

- Application of best management practices (BMPs):

• Bioretention Cell – excavated area filled with a specialized soil media and plants to temporarily hold and filter stormwater

• Soil Quality Restoration – reduce soil compaction and increase soil organic matter by adding compost

• Rain Gardens – landscaped depressional area with plants that don’t mind getting their feet wet for a short amount of time

• Native Landscaping – replacing turf grass with grasses and plants native to Iowa, which can reduce or eliminate the need to fertilize, mow or water your lawn

• Permeable Pavement – asphalt, concrete and brick pavers constructed on top of a rock base that allows rain to soak into the rock below and infiltrate into the ground

- Rain barrels to collect rain for watering gardens and lawns

Find more information and the grant application at

Waukee.org/RainCampaign.

Before: signs of erosion along the Willow Brook pond

After: rip-rap (large stones) reinforces the bank along the pond.

After: rip-rap stabilizes the Painted Wood streambank