Sandy Hill is one of the oldest and more prominent communities in the City of Ottawa. For many years, the community had experienced chronic basement flooding. This was due to combined sewer backups and poor surface drainage in low-lying areas of the downtown community. Looking to remedy the situation, the City engaged us to help.
We designed and integrated an innovative stacked water storage facility, recognizing that Sandy Hill Park could work to manage flooding. Our flood control solution consists of a 12,500-cubic-metre (441,433- cubic-foot) underground sewage storage tank covered by a stormwater pond that holds excess surface flows during rare flood events. Imperceptible to the public, the underground tank prevents combined sewage from backing up into basements and provides the first line of defense when the sewer system becomes overloaded. For even larger flood events, the 1.1-million-gallon (4.2-million-litre) stormwater pond provides for the safe management of excess stormwater and can be used as a multi-sport field in the summer and an ice rink in the winter.
Residents of the Sandy Hill community have always enjoyed Sandy Hill Park. But now they have one more reason to love it. The new park incorporates an improved layout, modernized facilities, and comfortable outdoor spaces with a playing area and ice rink. And with the implementation of a creative stacked stormwater storage facility, the City has provided them with dry basements for the first time in decades.
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