A decade in the making
Norfolk finishing $836K plan to reduce pollution, help restore Chesapeake Bay
Perhaps you’ve noticed a change in the landscape while traveling on Brambleton Avenue along the Hague: a long pond filled with grasses and punctuated by rows of wooden sticks.
That’s courtesy of the city of Norfolk, which is finishing an $836,000 project first discussed nearly a decade ago.
It’s called the Hague Stormwater Wetland and is one of the last of a series across the city, said
Justin Shafer, Norfolk water quality project manager.
Since 2010, Virginia and other Chesapeake Bay states have been under a federal mandate to reduce pollution from sediment and nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen that spur harmful algae growth and suck up oxygen marine life needs to survive. Officials face a 2025 deadline to have pollution-control measures in place that can help restore the bay.
Some of those requirements were passed down to localities, Shafer said. Norfolk officials researched which locations could most benefit from pollution control.
The Hague, between the Sentara hospital complex and downtown Norfolk, is a U-shaped section of Smith’s Creek that feeds into the Elizabeth River, which in turn feeds the Chesapeake Bay.
When it rains, stormwater runs off about 15 surrounding acres into the waterway, including from roads and parking lots along Brambleton and from the hospital. The stormwater pond works to intercept it, Shafer said. The city rerouted pipe flows from the Hague to the pond.
The pond will still overflow at a certain level. But the idea is that the nutrients and sediments would still settle into the wetland first, allowing soil and plants to naturally capture them.
Officials expect the project to remove about 18 pounds of phosphorus, 93 pounds of nitrogen and 4,303 pounds of sediment from the waterway each year.
Mostly bullrush plants were chosen for the wetland because of their ability to tolerate saltwater. Some newly planted bald cypress and oak trees surround it.
The three-acre site was technically a park — Riverside Park — but was usually so muddy or flooded it was unusable, according to Shafer. Most of the trees were starting to die.
A new asphalt path next to the wetland serves residents as well as being a barrier to separate the pond from the Hague, he said. The city also will soon plant wildflowers.
The maze of netting held up by wooden sticks? That’s to keep geese and other waterfowl out while the plants are growing.
The project was funded by a mix of federal and state grants and loans designed to improve water quality, Shafer said. But it’s the first step in the city’s broader vision for more “green infrastructure” made of natural elements to address the impacts of sea level rise.
“There’s been a lot of discussions about what can be done and what needs to be done at the Hague,” he said. “Most of those have centered around the flooding aspect.”