MWRD: 7.5 million gallon "rain barrel"

MWRD posted

MWRD's comment:

No, we aren't building a portal to another dimension. This is the inside of the Wescott Park Stormwater Storage Facility in Northbrook, which is being built beneath the park using modular prefabricated concrete pieces. The facility will help relieve flooding in the neighborhood by capturing 7,500,000 gallons of stormwater that would otherwise cause storm sewers to overflow. We are partnering with the Village of Northbrook on the project by funding the control portion of the facility, which will allow some of the captured and cleaned stormwater to be pumped back up to the surface and used for irrigation on the park above it. It will basically work like a giant rain barrel!

You can access the link for 9 more pictures.

When they rebuilt the parking lot for one of our high schools, I remember that they used permeable pavers even though they are significantly more expensive than regular pavement. The reason they paid extra was that they would have had to build a big retention tank under the parking lot if they used regular pavement. Our town has combined sewers like Chicago has. And it is not clear how they would empty the tank after a storm. The soccer field is artificial turf. I don't know what the football field is. The baseball field is still grass.