MOUNT GREENWOOD — Steven Legal and his crew are drilling 900 holes in Mount Greenwood Park this week.
The goal is to improve drainage at the soggy park at 3721 W. 111th St. with a new technology from Detroit-based Parjana Distribution. The company is using the park as for a pilot program as it expands into Illinois.
Ald. Matt O'Shea (19th) said the $80,000 project is a joint venture between the Chicago Park District and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. And it comes after years of complaints over standing water and wet ball fields.
Indeed, Beverly Park, Kennedy Park, Ridge Park and others in the 19th Ward will all see rainouts this baseball and softball season, but the standing water typically recedes after a day or so, O'Shea said.
"Mount Greenwood Park might not play for three days. It does not drain as well as those other parks," he said, blaming the clay soil for the slow absorption of rainwater.
Parjana Distribution's system aims to solve such issues without tapping into the city's sewer system. The company drills two-inch holes 5-, 10-, 20- and 40-feet into the ground. Long plastic sleeves known as Energy-passive Groundwater Recharge Products are fed into the holes.
The devices are designed to act like a drinking straw — collecting water that would otherwise sit on the topsoil and sending it down into dry soil below, Legal said Tuesday.
"It's an amazing product for golf courses," said Legal, adding that the company named for the Hindu rain God has worked on courses throughout Michigan as well as public parks, airports and even residential backyards there.
Roughly 8,000 feet of the plastic sleeves will be installed at Mount Greenwood Park. It takes anywhere from six weeks to a year for the ground to acclimate to the devices — which largely depends on the amount of precipitation, Legal said.
He said residents will likely know the product is working this winter after a heavy snow. Once it begins to melt, it's not uncommon to see small divots where the drains are located underground.
Detroit-based Parjana Distribution is drilling 900 holes throughout Mount Greenwood Park. The plastic lines pictured here will be fed into the holes to improve rainwater absorption. [DNAinfo/Howard A. Ludwig]
Allison Fore, an intergovernmental affairs officer at the water reclamation district, said a successful test in Mount Greenwood could lead to similar installations throughout Cook County. She was particularly enthused by the technology's ability to divert rainwater from the overtaxed sewer system.
"The intensity of our new normal storm event needs technology solutions that keep the load off the system and infiltrating into the ground," Fore said. "We hope this technology or something like it is part of the overall solution to Chicago’s flooding problems."
