Due to a huge push for water quality improvements in the area, regional stormwater treatment BMPs that feature subsurface storage chambers are being installed throughout Los Angeles County. Often these concrete giants and their associated treatment infrastructure (hydrodynamic separators, pump stations, sampling manholes, meters, cartridge filters, etc) are located within public parks due to limited available open space. Balancing the operations, access, and maintenance of the stormwater treatment facilities with the recreational use of the park is complicated. Over the past few years, we have tackled the design and construction of several of these BMPs in Cities all over Los Angeles County. While connecting the stormwater treatment components themselves is straight forward, early designs neglected to consider sufficient access and maintenance. As a result, proper maintenance was not completed once the BMPs were brought online. Our design approach has since changed significantly to ensure adequate access is provided and that maintenance activities are straight forward and realistic for municipalities with limited resources. This presentation will walk through the lessons we have learned and highlight specific project shortfalls and how our designs have evolved to where we are today. We will discuss the importance of working with vendors and manufacturers, talking to the people who actually do the maintenance, and getting Cities on board with maintenance activities.
