MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Tonight people who live in the Withers Swash area are invited to attend a meeting to learn about possible stormwater solutions for that area.
Withers Swash is the City’s largest drainage basin at 2,500 acres.
After a meeting last year where residents gave input on stormwater issues in the area, the City worked with consultant WK Dickson to identify possible solutions.
This evening at the Myrtle Beach Train Depot, the consultant will present 16 possible projects for water quality and an additional 18 projects for infrastructure to improve water quantity.
The projects aim to solve the quality and quantity issues landward before the water reaches the ocean.
“We’ve spent a fair amount of money on deep water ocean outfalls,” City spokesman, Mark Kruea said. “Those work, but they are expensive, $5 to maybe $20 million dollars a pop. We’re thinking, maybe we can do something landward before the water actually gets to the point of needing outfalls that will address the quantity, maybe slow the quantity down and put it in a nice pretty lake something like that, and the quality.”
In the last 25 years, the City of Myrtle Beach has invested $75 million into stormwater solutions.
Kruea tells News13, dealing with large amounts of stormwater in Myrtle Beach can be difficult because the land is so flat.
“If you go inland, you’ve got a river and there are little hills and valleys that redirect rain into the river system and those all flow toward the coast,” Kruea explained. “Here our topography is very flat so we sometimes have to help mother nature along with where that water goes, and that can get very expensive.”
Kruea added, the City also wants to address issues in the Withers Swash area to protect the ocean.
Tonight’s meeting is open to the public and will start at 6 P.M. at the Myrtle Beach Train Depot.
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