The Alexandria Ad Hoc Stormwater Utility and Flood Mitigation Advisory Group largely approves of the measures city officials are taking to improve infrastructure and reduce flooding — with just a few exceptions.
"When the Alexandria City Council established the Ad Hoc Stormwater Utility and Flood Mitigation Advisory Group it did so with a charge to produce an annual report detailing the Group’s feedback on flood mitigation efforts," explained John Hill, Advisory Group Chair, in a memo to city council.
This year's report "presents an analysis of Alexandria’s proposed investment in stormwater flood mitigation as contained in the City’s (proposed) budget for FY24. The report was developed with input from concerned residents as voiced during meetings of the Advisory Group, presentations by City staff, and analysis by Advisory Group members of the proposed FY24 budget and Flood Action program."
Overall, the report noted that the moves Alexandria is making with funding and plans should work to mitigate flooding, according to the report. One exception: The intersection of Braddock and West streets, near the Braddock Road Metro station. "None of the currently planned large capacity-building projects appear to address this flooding problem directly," according to the report.
In addition, the advisory group cautioned that city officials need to be aware that costs may increase over time for planned projects. Also, "The true measure of progress will be when the City has proven its ability to build the large infrastructure projects that fundamentally increase Alexandria’s capacity to move stormwater."
Alexandria’s stormwater sewer network has 189 miles of pipe and thousands of access points, but many of those pipes are aging and access points are inadequate for today's storms and population.
The complete report is available here.
