Wheaton Briarcliffe Lakes Study Phase II

A City of Wheaton Council Meeting was held on July 20. This meeting included a discussion of the "Briarcliffe Lakes Study Amendment."

The expenditure of about $32,000 was approved. The engineering company will conduct a study of impact of Downstream Properties Capacity. This decision is a consequence of the first study which included an analysis of possible solutions. The city has apparently decided that moving water out of lake 4 is the best solution. However, the study amendment also includes a house study, which I would describe as an impact study. Once a final course of action is decided upon, then it will be necessary to determine how to pay for the solution. There are purportedly FEMA grants available, but of course there is a real competition for these funds.

The study should be completed and a report issued in October 2015.

The meeting was lightly attended.

Summary
The "Briarcliffe Lakes" are in the Briarcliffe subdivision of the City of Wheaton. These lakes are part of a five lake chain which receive stormwater and are part of a very large watershed. One third of the watershed is in the Village of Glen Ellyn. However, water flows downhill and so the watershed drains into Wheaton's Lake 4, which is part of the city's storm water system. Unfortunately, this lake cannot handle the changes on storm water management by the College of DuPage. So the capacity is not adequate. It is also unfortunate but this lake is the final one in the chain. In recent years, both lakes 3 and 4 overtopped, as did Pond's 7 and 9 in Glen Ellyn. These then inundated nearby properties with stormwater. In some respects the situation is now like "musical chairs." Water from the watershed has been literally "dumped" into the lap of the City of Wheaton. It now finds it has no where to go with this. The nearby Village and College have successfully offloaded their water to others.

Wheaton Seeks Applicants for Stormwater Project Engineer Position

From Wheaton's Weekly June 17, 2015:

City Seeks Applicants for Stormwater Project Engineer Position 
The City seeks applicants for a Project Engineer position to perform civil engineering tasks related to local stormwater studies, analysis of drainage concerns, data collection and organization on major storm events, and stormwater capital projects.

Here's a link to their website with the details. Clink to open a new web page:

Wheaton Jobs - Project Engineer - Stormwater

Additional Rain Activity - Tropical Storm Bill

We're getting a real cloudburst here from a fast moving thunderstorm. However, this storm will be out of the area in about an hour. Should not cause a problem on Wheaton's Lakes or COD's ponds in Glen Ellyn.

7:40am Radar from NOAA.gov:

Tropical storm Bill is sending rain into the area. For the immediate future that rain will be elsewhere. According to the NOAA "Tropical moisture from Bill will continue to bring heavy rain to the southern Plains, mid-Mississippi River Valley and Ohio Valley through Thursday. Numerous Flash Flood Watches are in effect across these areas. River flooding is also likely in these areas as the heavy rainfall drains into areas rivers."  Here's the current wide area radar (reflectivity) data from the NOAA:

Lake 4 Discharge (Outflow) Condition

Here's a photo taken at 2:25pm today. The Superintendent of Sewers for the city emailed me and stated that the "outfall" is flowing "at design capacity" and that, I presume, means it is normal. Here is how the outfall looked from within the storm sewer concrete container after the city had inspected it:

Here is the way it looked yesterday: 

Seem to be about the same; my viewing angle was different. You should try taking these photos. Some floating debris was cleared this afternoon. However, it was floating above the entry point and could not have interfered with the "outfall." It would seem the flow was at maximum yesterday. 

It would also seem that conditions (rainfall, ground moisture content, etc.) were about all that the lake system can currently handle. I include College of DuPage's ponds on their southwest boundary and Wheaton's Lakes A, 1, 2, 3 and 4. 

Here's the debris, with my shoe to provide some perspective:

Wheaton Lake 4 Level Very High

The water levels in Wheaton's Lakes 3 and 4 are very high.

As of 4:00pm today Wheaton's Lake 3 level was very high, above the level of the entry storm sewers and also above the entry of the city's 42 inch storm sewer discharge and entry points which connect Wheaton's Lakes 3 and 4.

I am sending information to the city because I have a concern that the discharge of Lake 4 is restricted. There is a "gate" which the city controls and padlocks. I include several photos of the discharge of Lake 4 and I suspect the gate is not fully open. Meanwhile, the lake continues to fill from Wheaton's lakes upstream, as well as portions of the watershed in Glen Ellyn and the College of DuPage.

As of 3:20pm today, the levels of Lake 3, Lake 4, the Hoddinott pond and College of DuPage's pond 9 were all at the same level. Meanwhile water continues to flow from Wheaton's upstream Lake 2.

The City of Wheaton extercises control over these lakes, and the Village of Glen Ellyn's College of DuPage also directs stormwater from their campus to Lake 4 via a series of underground storm sewers and their Hoddinott pond, which is connected to Wheaton's Lake 4 by a weir. As of today, that weir is completely under water, and so the Hoddinott pond and Lake 4 at at identical levels.

Here is the situation at the discharge of Lake 4 as of 3:30pm today. Wheaton controls the lock which opens a flow control device at the discharge of Lake 4. I am concerned this flow control device is not fully open.

Wheaton's Lake 4 discharge point:

Wheaton's lock which controls the discharge of Lake 4

Interior of Lake 4 discharge:

To substantiate my statement that the levels of the lakes are identical (or nearly so), here is a photo of the first storm sewer entry point after Lake 3. This storm sewer interconnects Lakes 3 and 4. 

I have made videos of some of the conditions and I'll be posting these. 

DuPage County - Second Meeting to Discuss Flooding - February 5, 2015

As announced by Wheaton, January 28, 2015:

This post includes a link to a survey "DuPage County is entering a competition for funding to help communities recover from prior disasters and improve their ability to withstand and recover more quickly from future disasters, hazards and shocks. Reducing current and future risk is essential to the long-term vitality, economic well-being and security of all communities. We need you to assist us in identifying the impacts that you face from flooding. The responses you provide will help us maximize disaster preparedness, save lives and bring benefits to a community long after recovery projects are complete.

The survey will consist of two sets of questions. The first will address flooding and the second will address quality of life."

DuPage County to Hold Second Meeting to Discuss Flooding and Future Resiliency

DuPage County will hold a second public information meeting regarding the creation of an East Branch DuPage River Watershed Resiliency Plan on Thursday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m. at the Wheaton City Hall, 303 W. Wesley Street. 

In order to better prepare local communities for future extreme weather events, DuPage County is currently creating a resiliency plan for the East Branch Watershed, which encompasses the central portion of DuPage County extending from Addison into Will County. To accomplish this, DuPage County is enlisting the support of local communities to provide information on flooding and quality of life in the area. 

During the public meeting, residents and small business owners will have the opportunity to learn more about this planning process, as well as submit ideas and input that may be incorporated into the plan. In addition, an online survey is available. 

To access the survey, please visit this site:

Clicking will open a  New Window> https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DPCResilience

Note: The East Branch DuPage River Watershed encompasses a large area, including the Village of Addison, Village of Bloomingdale, Village of Bolingbrook, City of Darien, Village of Downers Grove, Village of Glen Ellyn, Village of Glendale Heights, Village of Lisle, Village of Lombard, Village of Oak Brook, Village of Westmont, City of Wheaton and Village of Woodridge.