The Greene County Soil & Water Conservation District recently completed construction on a stormwater retrofit project in the Village of Tannersville. The project site is the long-vacant Marian Center Building which will soon become the home of the Mountain Top Library and Learning Center. The District’s retrofit project will protect water quality from the negative impacts of stormwater runoff from the site by utilizing low impact development and better site design practices.
The project serves approximately 1 acre of impervious surfaces (buildings & parking facilities) that currently convey untreated stormwater runoff to the Sawkill Creek (a tributary of the Schoharie). Stormwater runoff is detrimental to water quality because it carries pollutants and sediments from the ground into waterbodies. Rapid runoff also causes erosion and degrades aquatic habitat. The retrofit project involved installing permeable pavement, rain gardens, rooftop gutters, and an underground stormwater conveyance and treatment system. These practices will help protect water quality and ecosystems from the negative impacts of stormwater.
The District is very happy to be involved in implementing this project in partnership with the Mountain Top Library. Once completed, the new Mountain Top Library and Learning Center will be a state-of-the-art facility with expanded library catalogue, programming, and services. In addition to protecting water quality, the Mountain Top Library Stormwater Retrofit Project will educate the public on stormwater and the various techniques available to mitigate existing and future stormwater impacts.
The District was able to secure funding for the Mountain Top Library stormwater retrofit project through the Stream Management Implementation Program (SMIP, a grant program administered by the District and NYC DEP), the Catskill Watershed Corporation, and the ACOE Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) administered by NYSDEC.
Project Background and Porous Pavement Demonstration
Kim Ackerley, Catskill Watershed Corporation’s Stormwater Program Specialist, demonstrates the remarkable properties of the porous pavement parking surface at the Mountain Top Library Stormwater Retrofit Project. This video is also available at www.cwconline.org.
Permeable Asphalt Parking Area Demonstration
View this video to see the permeable asphalt parking area at work!