Recycling and Transfer Station Stormwater Improvements
Fuss & O’Neill has provided site, civil, permitting, stormwater, and construction services to the Town of Needham for its Recycling and Transfer Station (RTS).
Our team designed a series of stormwater improvement projects for the RTS to address issues that the Town was experiencing, including uncontrolled runoff entering wetland areas, difficulty maintaining existing stormwater features, poor drainage, and poor circulation for town vehicles and residents within the facility.
Working with the Town, Fuss & O’Neill developed three separate projects at the facility to address these issues. All three projects were designed and permitted at the same time, and then implemented separately, one project per year, after securing permit approvals. This involved the preparation of separate bid and construction documents, as well as specifications and cost estimates, to support the implementation of each project on its own.
The first project featured a series of sediment forebays and a stormwater basin for the compost area on the west side of the site, as well as reconstruction of the existing stormwater outfall and piping. The project eliminated the direct discharge of runoff from both the compost area and piped drainage from the rest of the site, and routed stormwater through a series of best management practices (BMPs) to protect the adjacent wetland area.
The design featured several forebay areas and the construction utilized surplus materials from the Department of Public Works (stone, concrete block, and granite curbing) to optimize the project’s budget. Utilizing surplus materials kept costs down, and the design forebays featured sloped edges to allow Department of Public Works staff to enter and clean out the basins with their own equipment.
The second project expanded an existing stormwater basin and included construction of a new forebay at the base of the existing landfill. This area of the site experienced localized flooding due to the small size of the basin. The basin was expanded to the south, and a forebay was added to prevent sedimentation from clogging the outlet control structure and migrating downstream of the basin. These improvements have since proven effective in collecting and treating runoff from the landfill and the adjacent roadway.
The third project aimed to alleviate an area of poor drainage and access by constructing a paved access road and associated stormwater features around the rear of the parcel. The paved roadway connected two areas of existing pavement to the rear loading area at the salt shed. Previously, this area had a dirt roadway. When the salt shed was constructed, the area was routinely used throughout the year, including during poor weather conditions. Drainage was added to the low point near the salt shed, and small forebays were constructed to the east and west of the area, prior to discharge to adjacent wetlands (east) and the large basin constructed in the second project near the landfill (west).
The new roadway allowed for four-season access to this portion of the site. It provided the ability to maintain access in any weather condition, while limiting sediment laden runoff through paving the dirt roadway and creating sediment forebays prior to discharge.
Recently, in addition to the stormwater projects throughout the site, Fuss & O’Neill assisted the Town with the preparation of bid documents for the construction of a material storage bin layout area constructed with precast concrete blocks. This project was partially enabled by the previous stormwater and access improvements, and allowed the Town a dedicated area for material storage and distribution. This project was bid by Fuss & O’Neill and overseen by a combined effort between Fuss & O’Neill staff and Town staff.
