Since it was built 30 years ago, sediment has been building up in the Hunters Wood Retention Basin, found across the street from the Naper Boulevard Library.
“When we have a large storm event, the water pulls the sediment, which drops in this pond, then continues onto the southwest. So over the years sediment has been accumulated through drainage and large storm events,” said Eric Schutes, Director of Planning with the Naperville Park District.
The 6 feet of material that collected in the pond made it a lot shallower, hurting its ability to retain water, as well as reducing water quality and creating a foul odor.
The solution? Digging an eight-foot deep trench from the inlet to the outlet of the pond to encourage water flow and to add aerators to add oxygen to the pond.
The material that’s being removed from the pond will be sculpted into berms and planted with grass.
As part of the project, the park district will also regrade and reseed the shoreline with native prairie grasses to prevent erosion.
At the last park board meeting, the park district also approved $65,625 plans to regrade the shoreline of a pond at Clow Creek Greenway.
The work is scheduled to be completed by early fall.
Naperville News 17’s Blane Erwin reports.
