Project Summary
For central Washington County and the VBWD, the past decade (2011-2020) was one of the wettest on record since 1891. These historically wet conditions resulted in high groundwater conditions and record high water levels on many of the landlocked basins in the VBWD. In 2020, the VBWD and Washington County performed emergency pumping at several landlocked basins (Downs Lake and Eden Park Pond, Legion Pond, Goose Lake, Reid Park Ponds, Friedrich’s Pond, Rose Lake) in the VBWD to protect homes, roadways, and sewage systems. The VBWD also heard concerns from residents about high water levels and flooding at landlocked Klawitter Pond, Cloverdale Lake, McDonald Lake, and Sunfish Lake. Decisions made during flood emergencies might not be the wisest.
The VBWD recognized that reactive, emergency pumping is not a sustainable or cost-effective way of managing high water conditions on these basins. As a result, the VBWD partnered with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) through the Planning Assistance to the States Program (PAS) to complete a comprehensive planning study to determine how to manage high-water conditions on several landlocked basins in the VBWD.
Project goals included:
- Studying high-water/flooding conditions
- Developing and evaluating water level management alternatives
- Determining water quantity and water quality impacts of the proposed alternatives on downstream receiving waters
- Recommending a water management approach for each of the basins included in the study
Many stakeholders and agencies were involved throughout the study process to help inform and guide the study. The study report went through the USACE review process as well as review by other project stakeholders. The report was finalized in December 2023.
Below are links to the final project report:
Appendix 1 Scope of Work
Appendix 2 Survey Data (Not Posted due to Personal Information Included)
Appendix 3 Impacted Dwelling and Damage Assessment
Appendix 4 Well-Level Data Summary
Appendix 5 2021 Sediment Phosphorus Study Summary
Appendix 6 PFAS Summary
Appendix 7 Lake Level Data Summary
Appendix 8 Stakeholder Meeting Presentations
Appendix 9 Public Meeting Boards
Appendix 10 Groundwater Modeling
Appendix 11 Valley Branch Watershed District Landlocked Basin Flood Mitigation Comprehensive Planning Study Hydrologic and Hydraulic Model Development Report
Appendix 12 Hydrologic and Hydraulic (H&H) Model Results
Appendix 13 Valley Branch Watershed District Qualitative Climate Change Assessment Report
Appendix 14 Historical Climate Data Assessment and Proposed Sensitivity Analysis
Appendix 15 Basin Water Quality Modeling
Appendix 16 Opinions of Probable Cost
Appendix 17 Stakeholder Comments on Draft Report (Not Posted due to Personal Information Included)
Appendix 18 Electronic Deliverables (Not Posted due to File Size)