MRCDC Updates on Druid Hill Park
Water Filtration

Happy Birthday Druid Hill Park

 

Yesterday was Druid Hill Park's 154th Birthday and if you have not heard, there are some major renovations in the planning stages for our beloved park.

 

 

 

On October 9, Baltimore's Department of Public Works (DPW) held another community meeting to discuss the progress of the $120 million drinking water project. The project is in response to a new federal mandate requiring additional security for sources of drinking water. Instead of getting water from the lake/reservoir, DPW plans to bury two large storage tanks that will store our drinking water.  The remaining body of water will be transformed into a recreational lake, which will allow greater use of this magnificent lake by all those that visit the park.


 

This DPW meeting was the third public meeting, and during the prior meeting MRCDC and other members of the community raised concerns about the long term reliability of the aeration plans presented for the new recreation lake.  Without proper and reliable aeration, the lake water will become stagnant and swamp like. Therefore it is critical the aeration plan work reliably for many years to come.  In response to the concerns, DPW presented an aeration plan which addresses the reliability concerns.  

 

1)    Creating a cascading waterfall along the western edge of the lake for aesthetics and aeration.

 

2)    Installing three new air pumps in an existing maintenance building on the southeast corner of the lake.  These pumps will shoot air through a new network of lake floor air pipes.  The air bubbling up from the bottom of the lake will aerate the water and keep it fresh and clean.  This system has the highest degree of reliability compared to other options, since only 2 of the 3 pumps are needed at any one time to keep the lake clean. When one of the three pumps breaks, DPW will have time to bring it back online without the lake deteriorating while the pump is down.

  

The other technical challenge DPW is still working on is to ensure the water level of the lake is maintained and will not evaporate over time. DPW Chief of Maintenance Art Shapiro said that DPW is at the 30 percent stage of finalizing its designs and is confident they will have this water level challenge solved by the next meeting in February 2015.

 

Baltimore Recreation and Parks was also present at the meeting and said that they will soon start working with the community and holding meetings to discuss the plan for the new park space that will be created. They have started the design process.

 

Friends of Druid Hill Park, MRCDC, and other partners are working to engage with Recreation and Parks and DPW on this project and the exciting potential it holds. We strongly feel many areas of Druid Hill Park are underutilized and that the park's improvement is vital to the continued development of the Mount Royal District, all neighborhoods surrounding the park, and Baltimore as a whole.

 

Have a great idea for the use of the park and the new space?  Let us know about it, and contact us here [dhpideas@gmail.com]

 

For more information on the project, visit DPW [http://www.cleanwaterbaltimore.org/]

 

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