Cobb Brook Flood Control Improvements

BETA has provided on-call engineering support services to the City of Taunton’s Department of Public Works since 2006. During this time frame, BETA has supported the City with services for the planning, design, permitting, and construction administration of numerous stormwater related improvement projects. The projects vary in scope and include roadway cross culverts, open-channel swales, infiltration systems, pipe and structure upgrades to existing systems, and installation of new closed drainage systems.

For this project, BETA spearheaded the design, permitting, and construction administration to address stormwater flow at Cobb Brook. A portion of the brook, located in the industrial area of West Water Street and Fifth Street, had inadequate capacity to convey the stormwater flows generated within the contributing watershed which resulted in problematic flooding along West Water Street. The flooding restricted the only access to the City’s wastewater treatment facility. The solution involved the planning, design, permitting, and construction of a 700-foot long, 10-foot wide by 4-foot high concrete box culvert to serve as an overflow to convey excess stormwater or flood waters to the Taunton River. In addition, a weir plate was used to restrict or limit flows to the existing drainage system to prevent downstream flooding on West Water Street. The weir plate maintains the flows within the existing drainage system to preserve the existing open-channel bank resource areas.

For this project, BETA obtained funding, researched previous studies and reports, performed surveys, borings, wetland flagging, watershed analysis, hydrologic and hydraulic analysis, coordinated with property owners, obtained permits, prepared environmental science reports due to work on contaminated parcels, prepared construction documents, provided bidding services, construction administration, construction inspection, and preparation of record drawings. The construction of the project took approximately one year and was substantially completed in early 2009.

The permits acquired for this project included:

• Order of Conditions and Certificate of Compliance
• Massachusetts Public Waterfront Act “Chapter 91” Permit
• Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Environmental Notification Form
• U.S. EPA Remediation General Permit
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “Section 404” Permit
• Massachusetts Endangered Species Act from Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program from Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife