Maplewood Medical Center Finds Stormwater Management Solution Using CULTEC Chambers

Newtown, Conn.-based Maplewood Medical Center, an assisted living community offering Alzheimer's care, will open a new two-story, 26,000-square-foot medical office building in 2015. Upon completion, the 3.26-acre site will offer Connecticut seniors a friendly and unique environment while providing a wide range of services including assisted living, memory care and personal assistance services.

In collaboration with contractors from LRM, Inc. and distributors from Target Enterprises, Inc. engineers from J.F.M. Engineering, Inc. designed a stormwater management system that would provide a combination of retention and detention to the new site, as well as groundwater recharge. With wetlands nearby, engineers chose to place the chambers beneath the Center’s parking lot to save space for a conventional detention pond.

Engineers originally designed the project with solid-wall concrete chambers but later choose to use CULTEC’s plastic underground stormwater chambers based on a cost-savings opportunity and because the concrete chambers would not provide adequate infiltration to the site. LRM installed CULTEC’s Recharger V8HD model as it provided the largest volume possible between the groundwater and the cover requirement while using the smallest footprint. In addition, heavy trucks will be driving on this site, so CULTEC’s H20 design, which can withstand the weight of heavy-duty equipment, was a key component in choosing this system.

The stormwater management system, which was modeled in HydroCAD Stormwater Modeling software, features a total of 159 chambers arranged in seven rows beneath the Center’s parking lot. Each Recharger V8HD chamber measures 32 inches high and 60 inches wide and has a bare chamber capacity of 8.68 cubic feet per linear foot. The bed of chambers provides the site with a total of 15,777 cubic feet of storage. In addition, the V8HD model is able to withstand traffic loading with minimal cover – a major site requirement since the chambers will largely be covered by parking areas.

“The excavation was pretty deep – six to seven feet – and very wet,” said Michael Burton, Site Foreman with LRM. “Instead of using a pump, we started at the low end working our way to the high end, allowing the site to drain itself. Once it finished draining we were able to easily install the system in the opposite direction. All in all, the installation took about three days.”

While the installation went smoothly, the team faced a number of challenges throughout the project. In addition to staying away from the floodplain and protecting the existing wetland areas, the team had to consider the site’s high groundwater.

In addition to the CULTEC chambers, there are a number of additional stormwater management solutions onsite. Suspended solids separators provide initial pre-treatment by removing fine particles from runoff. Catch basins, water quality separators, manholes and HDPE and concrete pipes then remove up to 44% of total suspended solids from runoff before it is directed into the CULTEC units, which eliminate 80% of total suspended solids. This process was implemented to meet the Mass. DEP 2008 Stormwater Handbook Requirements. Finally, rain gardens provide final treatment soaking runoff from the impervious surface area into the ground instead of allowing it to flow into storm drains and surface waters to prevent erosion, water pollution, flooding and diminished groundwater.

Construction is expected to finish in the summer of 2015, at which time staff and patients will be able to use the new facility

About CULTEC
CULTEC, Inc., manufacturer of the Contactor and Recharger plastic septic and stormwater chambers, is a family-owned and operated company with experience in the drainage industry dating back to the 1950's. Introducing its Contactor and Recharger chambers to the industry in 1986, CULTEC helped begin a revolution toward using plastic construction products. Since then, several product developments and strategic alliances have made CULTEC a cutting-edge R&D-based manufacturer.

The company currently offers the largest variety of chamber sizes ranging from 8.5” – 48” high to fit almost any installation requirement. CULTEC’s products meet traffic wheel load criteria and are manufactured at facilities with strict quality control. To support the engineering community, CULTEC products are modeled in Bentley Systems' PondPack V8i, SewerGEMS and CivilStorm , HydroCAD , Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis in AutoCAD StormPACK Civil 3D version and Streamline Technologies' ICPR. CULTEC can assist with any design by performing preliminary calculations and supplying job-specific AutoCAD layouts free of charge. The Technical Department can also aid in system conversions and value-engineering of projects not specified with CULTEC. For more information, visit www.cultec.com.