BROOKFIELD, CT, April 15, 2008 -- For the last 60 years, the Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA has grown to provide programs and services to more than 10,000 people annually. Five years ago the organization once again saw the need for expansion, with plans including creation of an additional swimming pool, nursery, children's center and expanded parking. As the plans were being developed for the 8.34-acre site, the engineering firm EKA Associates from Scotch Plains, N.J., considered various systems to manage stormwater run-off created by the new impervious surfaces.
Adjacent to wetland areas, the YMCA facility faces seasonal high groundwater elevations. This, coupled with the need for more parking spaces, precluded the engineers from using an above-ground basin. Further, due to safety concerns, an above-ground pond would not have been the best choice for a facility with so many children. Engineers needed a stormwater system that could provide a maximum storage capacity without occupying separate surface areas. They found a solution in the CULTEC underground stormwater management system, a Clean Water Act-compliant Best Management Practice that successfully addressed land constraint, wetland proximity and high water table issues.
Specific to this application, 1,326 CULTEC Recharger 180 stormwater storage chambers in conjunction with CULTEC's own High Volume Low Velocity (HVLV) 180 Header System employed as the internal manifold were installed to collect stormwater from the site. As stormwater run-off travels through the HVLV system, side portals make the necessary tee connections and convey the water into Recharger chambers. On the YMCA site, the run-off will be detained, or stored for slower release, as well as infiltrated back into the ground. The system's capacity is 50,209 cubic feet.
"Each site presents its own stormwater management challenges, which affect the choice of a system," said Jeff Cadoff, an engineer at EKA Associates. "In this case, an underground system was the only way to go, and CULTEC presented the largest choice of product types and chamber sizes to fit our needs."
The Recharger 180 is a high-profile, high-capacity chamber constructed of high-density polyethylene for greater chemical resistance to parking lot run-off. Each chamber incorporates a built-in endwall for strength throughout the system and features CULTEC's patented, overlapping rib connection, which allows easy installation and a stronger connection between chambers.
The HVLV 180 Header System, designed to work seamlessly with the company's Recharger 180 model, is used as a replacement for conventional pipe manifold systems in stormwater applications. The system features several advantages over its conventional pipe equivalent including a lower profile installation with the ability to manage higher volumes of stormwater and a unique design which presets center-to-center spacing of CULTEC chambers and feed line elevations.
CULTEC Inc., headquartered in Brookfield, Connecticut, is a national manufacturer of plastic chambers used in subsurface retention/detention stormwater management systems and septic applications.
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