The proposed stormwater vault at the new elementary school at the Cardinal ES site is a community-driven project following the devastating losses and impacts to surrounding businesses and homes from the July 2019 storm event.
This is an important step towards the goal of building a Flood Resilient Arlington. It is an effort to strategically use public land for multi-purpose goals to overcome space constraints and expand the capacity of the stormwater management system.
A smaller stormwater detention tank was already included in the approved plans for the school project for temporary storage of stormwater following rain events. In response to community appeals, the County collaborated with Arlington Public Schools to design and build a much larger detention vault under the athletic fields that will form a cornerstone to a watershed-scale solution to reduce flood risk in the Torreyson Run watershed. The construction of the stormwater vault is being planned in two phases to ensure that it does not delay completion of the school construction for the start of the school in 2021, and to prevent excavation of newly-placed asphalt and concrete adjacent to the school along 18th street.
