Glasgow Watershed Assessment and Stormwater Design

Project Description

Glasgow Watershed Retrofit Prioritization & Stormwater Design

In 2015, the Town of Glasgow partnered with the Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission and Ecosystem Services to implement a NFWF Technical Capacity grant for conducting the Town of Glasgow Watershed Retrofit Prioritization Project. Led by Ecosystem Services’ science and engineering team, a field based study characterizing the Town’s watershed conditions was completed. From the field based study, a prioritized inventory of retrofit opportunities was created that identified and compared 13 total sites and 30 stormwater best management practice (BMP) opportunities within the Town limits. Using a Multi Criteria Decision Assessment tool, the BMP opportunities were prioritized and concepts level plans were created for two of the top ranked projects.

The top ranked project, a constructed wetland located along Blue Ridge Road, optimizes the metrics used in the prioritization, which include aesthetic uplift potential, habitat uplift potential, pollutant removal cost effectiveness, and flood attenuation potential. A bioretention facility adjacent to the Town Hall was ranked eighth in the prioritization and was the next feasible project. Projects ranked 2-7 were either cost prohibitive stream restoration projects or lacking landowner support. Both projects are an opportunity to simultaneously remove pollutants from stormwater runoff, provide flood attenuation for the Town, and create educational opportunities as both projects are on public property along the primary corridor into the Town.