Foley’s project to manage the stormwater in the Beulah Heights community is nearing completion with funding from the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program.
The Beulah Heights Regional Stormwater Facility in southeast Foley should be completed this fall, Leslie Gahagan, Foley sustainability and natural resources director, told members of the Foley City Council.
The council voted to accept an additional grant from the MBNEP to finish the project. Gahagan said the group has already provided some funding for the drainage program.
“We’ve been working with them on the Beulah Heights Stormwater Management Facility,” Gahagan said. “To date, they’ve given us about $320,000 in grant funds. They added another $70,000, which will bring us to $390,000 to complete that project.”
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management also previously provided a grant to pay some of the costs of the Beulah project.
The project will improve drainage of 480 acres in southeast Foley. Work to improve drainage has been going on since 2008. The current project will help Foley expand drainage and water quality improvements and reduce the chances of flooding in the area.
Before improvements began, stormwater runoff ran directly into Wolf Creek. The drainage project allows water to be diverted to retention basins, reducing damage from runoff.
Planned improvements include a system to trap sediment before the material settles into the retention pond. The system will allow sediment to be removed without having to dig the material.
After the stormwater facility is completed in the fall, the city will continue additional work to improve drainage in the Beulah area.
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