McEuen bogged down

COEUR d'ALENE - The grassy swale at McEuen Park isn't so grassy these days.

According to city spokesman Keith Erickson, the swale area in the grassy amphitheater area of the park has been perpetually flooded by the new park's irrigation recycling system.

The recycle system is located under the Harbor House on the southwest corner of the park. It consists of a 60,000-gallon holding tank that is used to supply the park's sprinkler system.

The holding tank is filled two ways: By recycling the water from the splash pad, and when that doesn't provide enough water to feed the sprinkler system, a pump kicks in and fills the 60,000-gallon tank with lake water.

Erickson said Team McEuen - consisting of the city, the contractor and the engineering firm that built the park - is still trying to fine-tune the system.

"First, we found out the splash pad uses 120,000 gallons a day," Erickson said. "I don't think that much water was anticipated by Team McEuen."

Then, he said, the lake water pump was filling the tank in the morning before the splash pad was activated.

"That was unbeknownst to anyone, so it was getting water from two sources," Erickson said. "When the tank overflows, the overflow goes into that pit."

Complicating matters, the soil was not as permeable as they thought it was, so Erickson said Team McEuen is going to be working on improving the drainage of the swale.

Phil Boyd, president of Welch Comer Engineering, sent the city an email Thursday explaining the problem.

"The splash pad and Harbor House recycle system became operational at the same time which required (Contractors Northwest Inc.) and Team McEuen to adjust the facility while the splash pad was in use by the public," Boyd said. "Due to the popularity of the splash pad, the city was not inclined to shut down the splash pad while the recycle system adjustments were completed and ponding splash pad water in the swale was the result."

Boyd said that prevented the area from being hydro-seeded.

"The swale area also appears to have a lower than anticipated soil infiltration rate that may be a result of fine-grained soils settling in the area during construction." Boyd added. "CNI will complete soil tests to confirm the permeability, and along with the city and Team McEuen, develop a solution to improve soil permeability."

Boyd said the site should be remediated and hydro-seeded in the next couple of weeks.

Erickson said the lake water pump was shut off last week.

"That's why it is staring to dry up now," he said. "It's not nearly the eyesore that it was."