Eddington Drainage Project

The plan to ease the flooding in the Eddington section of Bensalem was shared with the community on Monday, March 30th, 2009, at the Cornwells Elementary School. The plan includes the construction of a drainage basin that would be located on School District property adjacent to the Cornwells Elementary School. The highlights of the meeting are as follows:

Click here for a larger image of the concept plan.

• The Township would like to obtain 8 acres of this property from the School District with 3.5 acres of this making up the actual drainage basin.
• The drainage basin would be up to 10 feet deep and hold 800,000-900,000 cubic feet of water. It would be surrounded by a 6-10 foot chain link fence with an access gate at the furthest point from the school.
• There are many different types of drainage basins. The proposed basin would be a dry bed basin which would NOT hold water after the rainwater has drained out of the basin. By having a dry bottom basin, as opposed to a drainage pond, there would be less chance for mosquitoes to breed. The basin would within 72-96 hours (maximum) as per environmental regulations set by the state. A dry bottom basin is also more cost efficient.
• The basin and surrounding area would be the responsibility of the Township. They already operate various basins around the township. All of the basins are inspected to make sure they operate properly.
• The basin would help to filter the water. The Township comes out to clean the basins on a regular basis.
• There is currently a basin on the property which aides in the drainage from the school and parking lots. This new basin would be built to incorporate the basin which is currently next to the school.
• The basin would be tied into a future storm water system for the Eddington neighborhood.
• This would help alieve flooding for approximately 900 homes. The pipe draining into the basin would have a gate at the end to prevent any large objects from backing into the pipe.
• If the school district agrees to the proposal, the total acreage may need to be adjusted down to 7.7 acres. There is a possibility that the district needs to maintain a total of 16 acres for the school. The current acreage for the Cornwells Elementary School is 23.7 acres. District officials are looking into what the total acreage needs to be. If the district owned the property and did not use Plan Con funds to procure the property, there is no minimum required acreage.
• One member of the school board made a comment that this is already a "done deal" and was wondering why planning was being done prior to approval by the School Board. This is in NO WAY a "done deal". The School Board members still need to further discuss the proposal and vote on the outcome. Also, if there were no plans done to determine the viability of using this space, it would waste everyone's time. It would not make sense for the Township to come to the School Board with this proposal without and plans. How would questions be answered without planning?