KS Associates provided funding assistance, design, and construction phase services for the Main Street Green Infrastructure Enhancements project. The goal of the project was to reduce stormwater runoff and pollutants from entering the Main Street Beach in the City of Vermilion. KS designed innovative green infrastructure solutions to capture and treat surface runoff that carries trash, hydrocarbons, bacteria, heavy metals, and salts that ultimately end up in Lake Erie.
KS Associates assisted the City in applying for and securing a $175,000 2015 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Grant from the US EPA to help fund the project. KS Associates was then authorized to move forward with design.
KS Associates designed measures to collect, control, and treat stormwater runoff by filtering pollutants and retarding storm water flow through the use of special media. These measures included the installation of approximately 4,660 square feet of permeable pavers along Main Street to provide on-street parallel parking for the downtown area, and three bioretention areas to capture runoff from upstream impervious surfaces.
KS Associates’ design included the implementation of native vegetation and trees, which help remove dissolved hydrocarbons and suspended solids while reducing the quantity of runoff through evapotranspiration.
In early 2017, the City identified that the water distribution system in Main Street would need to be replaced in advance of the green infrastructure construction. The distribution system, parts of which dated from the early 1900s, included the critical 10-inch main coming straight out of the water treatment plant and the sole source of potable water for the entire community. KS designed the new 12-inch replacement water main relying on record drawings and field markings that proved to be radically incorrect and incomplete. Much of the main replacement was adapted in the field, on the fly, with close coordination with the City, contractor, water plant superintendent, design firm, inspection firm, and affected residents and businesses.
All told, 807 feet of 12-inch and 283 feet of 8-inch PVC water main were installed at a cost of $267,717. The Main Street Green Infrastructure Enhancements were constructed at a cost of $179,248. With this project completed in November 2017, KS Associates was able to support the City in conquering a seriously deficient water distribution system while improving the health of Main Street Beach and ultimately Lake Erie.
