French Creek Stormwater Management

In 2004 the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, in partnership with the City of Meadville, initiated an alternative stormwater Best Management Practice (BMP) project in an area upslope of a flood prone City area. This collaboration was in part prompted by flash flooding and its resulting costly damage, and in part to reduce the pollution risks to the highly diverse biological receptors in French Creek. In 2006, funded by a PA DEP Growing Greener Grant PEC expanded upon that initial effort, by undertaking a program to design and construct additional alternative stormwater BMP projects in the French Creek watershed. The BMP project sites are being utilized as (1) demonstration sites for outreach efforts to municipal officials, engineers, developers and others, and (2) environmental education sites for school children and the general public. As part of that community education component of the stormwater program, PEC facilitated a stormwater management workshop, targeted at municipal officials, since they are critical stakeholders in the effort to reduce the adverse economic and environmental impacts of poorly managed stormwater runoff.

The project is focused in and around the urban areas of the watershed: Meadville and Franklin. Not all of the BMP project sites have been chosen as of this date, although several likely project locations and BMP types have been identified. Some of the potential alternative BMPs envisioned under this project include: native plant cover; vegetated wet ponds, raingardens, bioswales, wetlands, porous pavement, green roofs, and riparian buffer strips.