Blair Township Green Infrastructure Site

Owner

Blair Township, Blair County

Project Details

This project included a two-pool rain garden that was created in a parklet outside the Blair Township Municipal Building.  An inlet box was installed on an existing pipe that carries stormwater from Penn Farm Estates directly to the adjacent stream. This inlet box acts as a splitter and sends some of the water to the rain gardens for pre-treatment before being released back into the pipe system and eventually the stream.  Larger storms will continue on through the existing pipe system, so the rain gardens do not get overwhelmed.  The runoff enters the upper rain garden pool, soaks into the ground, or flows over a boulder spillway into the lower rain garden pool.  A paver pathway was created to relocate some existing picnic tables and benches, giving the parklet more organization and purpose as well as providing an educational opportunity.

Project Uniqueness/Challenges:

• Blair Township’s project was part of a master plan developed for this site to creatively consider opportunities to install green infrastructure Best Management Practices (BMP’s). The project/master plan started with a day-long design charrette conducted under the Alliance’s overall project. The goal of the implantation projects is to demonstrate to the public, municipalities, and designers how to design, construct, maintain, and the benefit of green infrastructure BMP’s.
• During the construction, at least two significant rainstorms occurred, and the rain gardens handled them very well. The contractor was able to complete construction in one month.

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