What Happened at TJ Meenach?

River watchers noticed part of the hillside at TJ Meenach collapsed with water draining into ponds below. Click here for photo tour showing:

• Stormwater flowing, as designed, into a concrete catchment area above the hillside (Photo 1). Once the catchment area fills during a rain event, the system is designed for water to flow over the engineered hillside and into swales below. The swales are designed to collect stormwater water, removing pollutants from it as it seeps into the soil below.
•  The rain event over the weekend caused the hillside to erode, creating a breach (Photos 2 and 3).
•  Sediment from the breach has filled the swale immediately below the hillside and water is now draining into the downstream swales (Photo 4).
• The swales are full and now look like ponds (Photo 5).
•  When full, an overflow drain (Photo 6) redirects the water. This is now occurring, and the reason water is not overflowing the engineered embankment and pathway.
• Stormwater is also flowing into the river from an existing stormwater outfall pipe at TJ Meenach (Photo 7). This pipe is also connected to 2 Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) tanks. When the new stormwater system becomes fully operational, this outfall pipe will only be used during extreme weather events.

The City issued a news blog with more information.

In early November, City Parks and Recreation closed the gates to the TJ Meenach parking area as part of the recreation season closing. Visitors to the area are asked to avoid the hillside, as the land is unstable for the foreseeable future.