Parkersburg officials look at options for drained Southwood Park pond
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PARKERSBURG - City officials are considering options to address a leaking outfall pipe that has drained nearly all of the water from the Southwood Park pond.
The water level was dropping quickly on Friday. Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce said the single outfall pipe through which the pond drains "appears to be corrupted."
On Monday, there were a few pockets of water where some surviving fish tried to remain submerged, but most of the bottom of the pond held only mud and debris.
Joyce said the city has reached out to a contractor who has done work on stormwater lines in recent years to see if they could reline the pipe "to keep from having to do a large-scale and very expensive excavation." They are expected to be on-site this week.
The pond is fed by stormwater and drains through the single pipe, approximately 12 feet below the surface, Joyce said.
"The section where we believe the failure has occurred is very deep, and we believe it (is) corrugated metal and likely original to the pond," he said. "When the pond was built and the overflow installed, no mechanism was installed to allow for draining or inspection of the outfall pipe."
The city also has limited, if any, drawings or plans for the pond.
"This is the case with many of the structures and systems (from) 50-60 years ago," Joyce said. "Work was done and things were built without drawings or plans which makes repair and maintenance difficult."
Joyce said renovations completed at the pond last year did not include any alterations to the discharge infrastructure.
"Those renovations were surface improvements to the seawall, sidewalks and lighting," he said.
The second phase of the work, which had a price of $107,417, wrapped up about a year ago.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.