Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Harry Sweet on May 27, 2010 at 11:24pm

Poor drainage design and preparedness. It was not believed that that much water would ever flow there. Walls to deflect major flooding, sloped parking areas and drainage to quickly evacuate water are needed. Upstream diversions are needed as well.
You can design landscaping depressions to absorb normal rainfall but not the quantity of water that flowed that day.
Water in West Sedona ran off roof tops overwhelming drainage ditches and flowed down straight paved inclined streets, over 89A and into ProBuild's parking lot. Take a look at that lot. It is not designed for torrential downpours. Whomever approved the designs really blew it. I've seen it several times, people don't look at the big picture. I hope that's what this group is here for.

Permalink Reply by Sarah Irani on May 28, 2010 at 12:13am

Well, still good to use as an example, just another reason why we should be catching the rain off our roofs and piping it underground into cisterns or gardens rather than allowing it to rush off madly and create wild erosion.

I believe there have got to be creative solutions, I think the Tlaquepaque situation as a "case study" would be a great way to put fresh ideas into the heads of landowners, developers, and council members around Sedona. Maybe at this point it's crisis management, because of the original poor design, but some kind of presentation on what the right design could have been, helps open people up to the big picture, plan for the worst case scenario, and do things in a more holistic way.

Anyway, we're here to throw ideas around, so that's one of them. I was always inspired as a student when teachers opened my mind to new, unheard of possibilities (passive solar! greywater! I had never heard of these things at the time!)...education is key to dusting away the cobwebs of ignorance. Because "business as usual" clearly doesn't work very well.

Permalink Reply by John F Neville on May 28, 2010 at 8:48am

Sarah and Harry, we've been after the Sedona Public Works for years to use common sense in their storm water management - instead of concrete and culverts. Not only do floods (and the Tlaquepaque flood was a minor one) destroy local property, the waste an important asset to a desert community while polluting Oak Creek. Connor Boyle, a Flagstaff City Engineer, came to Sedona for one of our April Water Awareness events and gave a presentation on Low Impact Development which requires storm water mitigation on each site. The techniques include water catchment areas, permeable surfaces and landscaping designed to capture the first 1 inch of rainfall. Imagine how small the runoff would have been that day last September if Sedona had been as forward-looking as Flagstaff. After Connor spoke, Chris Anderson talked about rainwater harvesting systems in residential applications - a great presenation. You would think the last flood would have taught us something - but Public Works loves concrete and steel. That needs to change.