Rain Harvesting and How To Do It -- a FREE Workshop

June 26, 2013 turned out to be the last day of significant flooding this year -- knock on wood. Having said that, we hear there's a warm up coming this weekend [11/22-11/27/13], which could encourage Mother Nature to wake from her slumber and unleash one final year end deluge. Nah. She wouldn't do that. . .

Meanwhile, as a public service, we're passing along this invitation from the Chicago Sustainable Backyards Program to Oak Avenue residents who would like to do something more with the water coming off their roofs -- besides sending it into their neighbors' yards and overwhelming the sewers. If you also have a flooded front yard AND backyard, this may not solve ALL your problems. But it's a start. Meanwhile, to get you started, our Village is selling $100 rain barrels for $25 to Northbrook residents -- limit two. Click HERE.

A Couple of Trips Down Memory Lane

1) Below is a 1996 photograph of the standing water at 2432 Oak Avenue. What you see is just one of eight backyards that began flooding on the north side of Oak Avenue after the village allowed the grade to be raised at 2428 Oak Avenue [R]. The grade was raised to construct the new garage in the picture and a long cement [impermeable] driveway. In this picture, the garage at 2428 is approximately one foot higher than the yard at 2432. The water is almost a foot deep in this picture. And the yard didn't drain for days. That's why the owner took the picture. 

Since this photo, the house with this backyard at 2432 has been torn down for a larger house with a bigger footprint. The grade was raised to the same level as the garage and driveway at 2428. 

2) Even though we took this picture [below], we're not sure what the date was. Sometime in the eighties, we believe. The original reason for taking the picture was to honor the beautiful elm tree that would be sacrificed at the altar of ending street flooding by adding curbs. 

Turns out the new curbs were a purely cosmetic change, despite what one resident, a longtime member of the Planning Commission, led us to believe. The street flooding continues to this day. 

The reason for posting this picture now is to point out why many people on Oak Avenue thought that the sewers had been improved when the curbs were added. Au contraire, mon ami, those pipes are only the intake pipes for the street grates. Not anything related to improving the sewers. 

The tree is gone, replaced with an oak. The three bedroom house with a one car garage in the picture was torn down, replaced with a McMonster. 

Go Green Northbrook

A new, eco-conscious group called Go Green Northbrook has formed under the direction of Northbrook resident, Doug Gerleman. 

According to the August 22, 2013 issue of The Northbrook Tower, the Go Green group formed during April's Earth Day event in downtown Northbrook. They have since attended the July 18 meeting of the Village's Environmental Quality commission to introduce themselves. EQC welcomed the new group and agreed to create an ongoing working relationship. 

In conjunction with Go Green reps from fourteen other North Shore suburbs, Go Green Northbrook might tackle the use of plastic bags in the area, making a push for the use of non-disposable shopping bags. Sunset, Whole Foods, and other neighborhood chains already have non-disposable bags for sale. Sunset also accepts plastic bags for recycling. 

Also on the agenda includes the construction of a recreational trail for bicycles or walkers by the North Branch of the Chicago River, near Willow Festival between Techny and Willow roads. 

Perhaps the most relevant initiative to Oak Avenue Flooding victims is the construction of more rain gardens in Northbrook to help curb flooding issues. The major issue with rain gardens is how to insure that future property owners will continue to maintain them. 

According to Gerleman, the local of group of fifty-eight residents is setting up a Facebook page to keep residents up to date with Go Green Northbrook projects, as well as recruit more volunteers. 

Go Green Northbrook meets once a month. For more information, contact Doug Gerleman at gerlemand@comcast.net.

Bracing for the Rain

Here's what the forecast looks like for tonight, although some thunderstorms have already started pounding the area. Naturally, we're curious about how long they will last. We're also curious what kind of runoff there will be from the new construction. It's 5:50 PM. 

August Construction Continues On the House That Will Add To Future Flooding

After the basement had been dug out, there was a huge pile of dirt in the front and the back of the house. The first two pictures are from the day after all that dirt was smoothed down by one of those pocket-sized, earth mover tractors. 

The last two pictures are from a day or two after all the dirt had been leveled. A big shovel came in and dug a bunch of dirt up again to hook up the house pipes to the sewer lines. That may include the sump pumps as well as the catch basin or private drainage pipes. If anybody has a better handle on what those pipelines are for, feel free to 'splain.  

The Village Answers Flood Map Questions

We sent a letter to the Village to ask about the accuracy of the flood maps first discussed in an earlier entry HERE. 

Here's the response we received with answers from the ERA consultants in red. ERA is the company that does the maps and gives a thumbs up or down for improvements to our infrastructure. See if you think these replies sound like "We're the government and we're here to help." Or just more B.S. wrapped in jargon.  

Dear [Village of Northbrook],

The maps included in the H & H report show extensive street flooding on Westcott and Maple, where arguably NONE exists. 

Where is the information for these maps coming from? The information for the surface elevations was obtained through the Village’s Geospatial Information System (GIS) which provides elevation information at one foot intervals.  Contour mapping is generally considered accurate to within one half of the contour interval, so, in this case, vertical accuracy of the GIS should be plus or minus six inches. This area is relatively flat so there still may be some deviations in the field that are within the six inch tolerance.  The storm sewer routing information was obtained from the Village’s utility atlas information.

Oak Avenue Resident suggests: Get your butts out in the field.

There certainly wasn't flooding on Westcott or Maple during this last storm. While we were inundated on Oak. Far more than indicated on your map. And during the July 2010 storm, I had water up to my house from the street. As did several other homes. First, the storm model shows that the flooding in the area of Wescott and Maple occurs prior to the flooding in the 2400 block of Oak Avenue.  It also subsides sooner.  Therefore, it could have been that, once the flooding in the 2400 block of Oak Avenue was observed, the flooding at Wescott and Maple had already subsided. 

Oak Avenue Resident suggests: Storm model? Really? Get your butts out in the field. 

The representastion of street flooding in the 2400 block of Oak Avenue should be well past the sidewalks on both sides of the street and more extensive from east to west.   The limits of the extent of flooding may be somewhat different based upon the GIS one foot contour mapping. 

Oak Avenue Resident wonders: Huh?

Secondly, there is NO representation of the overwhelming backyard flooding we get on the 2400 block of Oak Avenue like there seems to be in the 2500 block. There is NOTHING ON THE MAP.  Following the storm, we ran a computer model using the same information that was used for the information in the report, but updated to include hydrologic conditions observed during the recent storm.  The output from this model depicts the backyard flooding in the 2400 block and seems to provide an good representation of the conditions that were reported during and after the recent storm event.

Oak Avenue Resident asks: So the previous flood maps are wrong and you're going to correct them?

We have proof with video and photographs. And I guarantee it's more than anything in the 2500 block, which is on higher ground.

Has there been a mistake?  As discussed in the responses above, using the base information provided from the GIS system and utility atlases, when hydrologic information from the most recent storm is put into the computer modeling, it seems to provide a fairly accurate representation of the conditions reported. The model could be updated with more accurate topographic survey information but we don’t believe it would substantially change the results.

Oak Avenue Resident gets impatient: This seems to contradict your previous answer. Could you possibly write something that's jargon-free?

What proof do you have that there really is flooding in the backyards of the 2500 block of Oak on the north side? Or that there is actually street flooding on the 2500 block of Maple? We have seen none. 

The backyard flooding shown on the map actually looks more like the 2400 block of Oak than the 2500 block. According to the GIS contour information, a significant amount of flow from the rear yards in the 2400 block of Oak Avenue runs onto Oak Avenue about three houses west of Western.   If this flow area is restricted by obstructions in side yard ditches or swales it likely makes it more difficult for the water to drain out. These conditions could cause additional backyard flooding in the rear yards of the 2400 block than what is shown in the report.  A detailed topographic survey of the side and rear yards in this area would be necessary to verify this condition.

Oak Avenue Resident suggests, once again: Get your butts out in the field. 

And whaddya mean the "significant flow" occurs "about three houses west of Western?" It occurs in the backyards of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth houses west of Western. But you wouldn't know that, because you don't get out in the field. 

Even more egregious, to suggest that "obstructions" in the backyards on Oak Avenue are the reasons for the sudden enormous backyard flooding is another example of Village incompetence. As if the huge footprints and elevated grades allowed for the new construction on Maple Avenue had nothing to do with the oceans of displaced water that suddenly had nowhere to go, but down hill.  

Can you explain how the alleged "obstructions" blocking the flow from the Oak Avenue yards occurred at the same time? To all those yards? Did we mention that the flooding was rIght after the mega-homes went up on Maple Avenue? 

But then, what more can we expect, when no one from the Village bothers to come out to the field?

Can you offer some way of proving that these maps are accurate, please? Hopefully, the explanations provided above are helpful in providing a better understanding of the accuracy and to some degree the limitations of the information shown on the maps.

Oak Avenue Resident replies to ERA Consultant:  Short answer? No. 

It's pretty clear none of the ERA people have been out to the 2400 block of Oak Avenue, EVER. 

Anybody Know What This Is?

People seem reluctant to comment on this blog. But we have a question. You can be anonymous, when you answer. Or email us at oakavenueresident@gmail.com. Anyway, we took a picture of this U-shaped pipe thing by the fence of the new construction at 2429 Maple. What's it for? [UPDATE: We got close to the fence the next day and saw a tag that said it was a window well. There's even a ladder, so we're thinking it's a very deep window well.] Also notice the little sign with red type on the right -- NO TRESPASSING. Probably because we stand at the fence and shoot pix.