Dry Basins
The Oak Creek Village community was designed with two stormwater dry basins (which are circled in red above) to manage stormwater, while the runoff from Butler Farms is mostly discharged into Tributary 7 via storm drains.
In the magnification below, one can see that the dry basins in Oak Creek Village discharge into Tributary 7. What do the "dry" basins look like up close?
Below are pictures of one of the dry basins.
To the left the basin appears to be a grassy depression in the landscape.
To the right, the slight ponding of water you see has been collected after a rain, which will then drain dry.
The purpose of the basins, is to collect runoff during a rain storm, and attenuate (slow) the water flow into the tributary. In both of these basins, the rate of flow will be reduced, as it flows through a singular ten inch wide pipe which is located in the bottom of the basin. (See the green pipe below, along with the staff gauge by which we can measure relative water velocity)
Even at full loading, the limited diameter of the pipe acts as a governor on the velocity of the water as it drains out to the tributary. This technique of managing stormwater will allow the total volume of stormwater to enter the watershed, but at a slower rate. The stormwater dry basins will run dry (hence the name) between storm events. Advantages of a dry basin (over a wet basin, or stormwater detention pond) are reduced water hazard and little or no mosquito production.