Wheaton Flood Study Planning Session

Watershed Map

Wheaton's City Council held a planning session on May 11. That session included the "Briarcliffe Lakes Flood Study."  This study is dated March, 2015 and is CBBEL project 13-0480.  The title is interesting but it was noted that there are 17 flood prone areas in Wheaton.

The study indicates that flow of this area is generally from north to south. In other words, storm water flows from an area north of Roosevelt Road and including Wheaton and Glen Ellyn. The flow is collected and migrates via a series of small lakes to end at Lake 4. At that point, flow is restricted (see the earlier study and the earlier City of Wheaton solution).

The session title might be simply a political appeasement, as the most recent over topping occurred at the two southern most lakes of the five in the study. Based on my interactions, I can state that many of the residents south of Lake 4 were oblivious to the conditions at Lake 3 and northward, and it's my opinion that they remain so to this day.

The southernmost lakes are in the Briarcliffe subdivision. The actual name of the study is the "Briarcliffe Lakes System Flood Study." Adding the word "system" is a significant addition to the study name. Note: Both Lakes 3 and 4 over topped in April, 2013. When Lake 3 over topped, the flow traveled overland to Lake 4. Simultaneously there were also overland flows from the College of DuPage, over topping of COD's "Hoddinott Wildlife Sanctuary" which includes a large pond and also COD's Pond 7. These flows were all into Lake 4 until the Hoddinott Sanctuary pond overtopped . It has been stated repeatedly and documented that the COD's Hoddinott pond over topped first. A resident on Brentwood stated so again during the council meeting.

In fact, the study extends from north of Roosevelt Road southward to Butterfield Road. About one-third of the area of the watershed is in neighboring Glen Ellyn. The remaining two-thirds is in Wheaton.  It is significant that neither the Village of Glen Ellyn nor the College of DuPage are participating in the study.

The notes of the city's Stormwater Engineer were included with the study presentation. Those notes state "During the storm the system of Lakes north of Brentwood Lane all filled to capacity and then floodwaters poured over the southern berm of Lake Four flooding a large residential area, disrupting residents lives, and causing property damage and loss. The flooding that occurred is not an isolated incidence." The study and the engineers notes ignored the over topping of COD's Hoddinott Marsh area and Pond 7. This was not by choice. It was because both the College of DuPage and the Village of Glen Ellyn are not participating in the study. I would add my opinion that they have exhibited no interest in doing so. In fact, COD president Robert Breuder stated in writing that the flooding of April 17, 2013 was "primarily... because of bypass flows" and the College Board did not respond to my letter at the time, preferring to have a law firm retained by the college respond to me.

The problem with the Briarcliffe Lakes System is the capacity. I also suspect that the previous decision of the city to restrict the outflow of Lake 4 has aggravated the situation, as have significant modifications on the College of DuPage campus.

Placing a restriction on the outflow of Lake 4 placed a cork on the bottle. If upstream flows are not similarly restricted or reduced, then the problem becomes worse. This was not addressed in the current study. Nor were the changes on the COD campus in the south and south-west areas of the college campus. It is known that the college has removed significant, lower elevation grassy areas along its perimeter, has added substantial asphalt for parking in that same area with storm sewers which direct flow to the Hoddinott Wildlife Area, pond and marsh, and to the new COD Pond 7.  It also added a large maintenance building. Ultimately runoff from all of these flows go to Lake 4, which has the only below grade discharge into the storm sewer system. After the one, below grade discharge is filled to capacity, then this lake system overflows.  There is no system in Glen Ellyn to alleviate this problem. The village and the "community" College of DuPage directs all flow into Lake 4.

Because of a total lack of cooperation from the college, and the lack of involvement by the Village of Glen Ellyn, what cannot be known is the impact of changes within the one-third watershed area of the Village of Glen Ellyn. In other words, it's reasonable to surmise that under the best circumstances one-third of the flow to Lake 4 comes from the watershed sourced from  Glen Ellyn. Furthermore, any changes on the COD campus will either reduce or increase the flow to Lake 4. Adding storm sewers, asphalt and structures in what were lower retention areas would imply an increase in flows to Lake 4 from the campus. That is what the college has done.

According to the study the "Briarcliffe Lakes System" includes Lakes A, 1, 2, 3 and 4. The watershed that drains into these lakes covers 1.9 square miles. The study states "The Briarcliffe Lakes System generally drains from north to south through a series of storm sewers and online ponds (Lake A and Briarcliffe Lakes No. 1 through No. 4.) The outflow from Lake No. 4 is conveyed via storm sewer, ultimately outletting into Windsor Channel via a 72inch sewer prior to discharging under Butterfield Road to Rice Lake."

This post begins with a map of the watershed, which is contained in the study.  As the study recognized that all flows lead to Lake 4, any restriction of that lake or increase in flows to that lake would increase or aggravate flooding, wouldn't it?

The study looks at the following:

• Street flooding between Lake No. 1 and Lake No.2
• Street flooding between Lake No.2 and Lake No.3
• Overland flow between Lake No.3 and Lake No.4
• Briarcliffe Lake No. 4 overtopping and downstream structures flooding
• Street flooding along the overland flow route or the storm sewer route downstream of Lake No.4

It was stated that "The primary focus of this study was to document the existing drainage system and identify alternatives that would reduce the risk of future flooding. The study area contains Zone A floodplain over Lakes No.3 and No.4, over two isolated street flooding areas along the overflow route of Lake No.4, and also over the downstream open-channel."

Bottom Line
Wheaton has identified several potential solutions. But it is making assumptions and going it alone, with no help or interest from the neighboring community of Glen Elly and the College of DuPage. The most practical solution "uncorks" the system and directs flow to the Rice Lake system, south of Butterfield Road. This will alleviate the problems created earlier and which includes those within the one-third of the watershed in the Village of Glen Ellyn and the College of DuPage.

The problem is straightforward. Solving it is not. It will take $millions to solve this. The city didn't find the wherewithal to do this years ago, prior to a time the State of Illinois was not the "State of Debt." The Village of Glen Ellyn pefers to spend it's money elswhere, and the "community" College of DuPage employs a large public relations staff to promote it's agenda and the French Restaurant and Hotel built with taxpayer money, while deflecting criticisms with high priced lawyers.

With the coming cash crunch, I would guess that this will be a difficult thing for the city to do.

Video of the Meeting
Here is the video transcript of the meeting. I included links to the engineering memo and the study in an earlier post.

Note that to run the video requires "Silverlight" software. This is free and distributed by Microsoft. Anyone who runs Netflix on their PC already has this installed. Otherwise, the city link directs the user to a download.

Clicking will open a  New Window> Briarcliffe Lakes System Flood Study