It's Been A While

Waiting 'Til the Leaves Fall

PMK Engineering told us, back in July that they needed to wait until the leaves fell off the trees to do the aerial photography they needed to complete the flooding study in the swamp.

The leaves fell. November passed. December passed.

In January, I went before the Township Council and asked what was going on.

According to Matt Watkins, PMK would have a report on February 6. However, this was not a written report, but a verbal one.

Then, the newspapers published that PMK was going to be asking for more money for an aerial study. No explanation yet on that one.

Finally a representative of PMK contacted me to request a site visit of the flooded area.

By now, with the completion of the huge infiltration basins at the CNJ warehouse, there is no warehouse runoff crossing into the Park.

Does that mean the flooding is gone?

No way. A combination of runoff from the Turnpike and all the huge amounts of water that had flooded in before the CNJ completion have still left their mark on the area. The trees are under water and the right of way under the JCP&L lines is still flooded.

How can this be after so many months? 4.5 million gallons of water flooded into the Park after nearly every rainfall. The soils there are not particularly pourous, so after several episodes, I suspect the area just became supersaturated and the water table rose. The size of the flooded area has certainly lessened and although I haven't walked it recently, it probably no longer floods all the way into the woods. But, it's still there and will be until the heat of the summer or a drought absorbs it all.

I think the tour left a suitable impression on the PMK engineer, but only time will tell.

How much time?

Will the leaves be back before we know?

Stay tuned for updates.