Knoch Knolls Nature Center Recovers from Flooding

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Knoch Knolls Nature Center recently flooded, but the cause was not the nearby pond or stream.

“Water was coming up through the floor grates, the floor drains within the building itself. Not coming up from outside the building in, meaning the creek wasn’t rising,” said Executive Director of the Naperville Park District, Ray McGury.

The water was quickly discovered, and experts were brought in to asses the situation.

“We had approximately about two inches of water come in and it came in through the sanitary line, so it wasn’t storm water, it was a backup somewhere in the city’s sanitary line,” said McGury.

Once addressed, the water quickly receded, having only been in the nature center a few hours.

“That’s the good news. The bad news is there’s some significant damage,” said McGury. “There’s restoration efforts going on right now.”

But the cleaning process isn’t going to be easy.

McGury explains, “We are LEED certified, which is a great thing. Unfortunately, during a flood it’s not a great thing because we can’t use any type of bleach, Clorox, any type of bleach products. The only thing we can clean with is Dawn detergent.”

While Knoch Knolls Park remains open, the nature center is currently closed for the cleaning and restoration process, which will be completely covered by insurance. The park district expects this to take about six to eight weeks.

And all of the animals that typically live in the nature center have been relocated to a safe home while the restoration takes place.

The park district is working with the city to permanently fix the sanitary sewer line problem that caused the flooding.

Naperville News 17’s Evan Summers reports.