D&B received top accolades from The American Council of Engineering Companies of New York (ACEC NY) in Category F: Waste and Storm Water for its Ocean Beach Flood Mitigation and Resiliency Project which upgraded the sanitary and stormwater infrastructure within the downtown area of the Village of Ocean Beach.
The Ocean Beach Flood Mitigation and Resiliency Project was designed to upgrade the sanitary and stormwater infrastructure within the downtown area of the Village of Ocean Beach. Located on the barrier island of Fire Island (NY), this popular summer vacation community was experiencing increasingly severe flooding and groundwater infiltration of both the existing sanitary and stormwater collection systems. Project improvements included the replacement and expansion of the stormwater collection system, partial replacement of the sanitary collection system, new stormwater treatment units, and construction of a below-grade stormwater pump station to reduce downtown flooding conditions. Despite multiple logistical and scheduling challenges, construction was successfully completed on time and on budget in July 2024, bringing environmental, economic and quality of life benefits to residents, business owners and visitors of Ocean Beach.
Multiple innovative construction techniques were utilized, particularly due to extremely high groundwater levels and the need to consolidate a variety of disparate systems. Flood mitigation and resiliency were accomplished via a new watertight stormwater collection system able to account for high groundwater conditions and a sophisticated 10-million-gpd stormwater pump station.
This project demonstrates that stormwater pump stations are an economically viable way to vastly improve living conditions in bayfront communities confronting sea level rise. The elimination of hazardous flooding has had positive environmental, economic and quality of life impacts, increasing home values and enabling business continuity. Previously untreated stormwater runoff is now filtered before discharge into the Great South Bay, and groundwater infiltration into the sanitary sewer system has been eliminated. As an added public benefit, the recreation area was upgraded after being used as a staging site.
The removal of groundwater infiltration into the sanitary collection system results in additional capacity at the sewage treatment plant and puts Ocean Beach in the position to reduce the number of cesspools on Fire Island by expanding its sewer district into neighboring communities. New stormwater treatment units provide water quality improvements through the removal of sediment and pollutants prior to discharge into the bay.
Since Fire Island is accessible primarily by boat, all construction equipment and materials had to be transported from the mainland via ferry or barge. The large influx of summer tourism meant all work had to be performed during the nine-month off-season. Additionally, the pump station required substantial support of excavation efforts to account for poor soil conditions and excavation depths up to 30 feet.
The use of the Village’s recreation area as the project staging site had a beneficial outcome, as residents are enjoying upgrades to the facilities including new tennis, pickleball and basketball courts. Downtown businesses were improved with reconstructed entrances that were raised to promote drainage, and vegetation at the surface of stormwater treatment units added beautification while removing stormwater pollutants.
(This story was originally posted at https://www.db-eng.com/)