Matt Fountain, Director of Stormwater Management

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Guests - Please contact Kevin Condon (condkr@gmail.com) if you'd like to attend

August 9 (Zoom) – Matt Fountain, City of Charleston, Director of Stormwater Management. The solution to our flooding problem may be underground. While Charleston’s well-preserved homes are well documented, one feature has gone unnoticed. There is a 10-mile underground network of brick tunnels that were built in the 1850’s as part of the city’s sewer system. By 1969 most of the city’s raw sewerage was directed to the Water Control Plant on Plum Island. The tunnels gradually filled with sentiment and became unutilized. But now an effort is underway to clean and restore the tunnels for stormwater drainage. A typical stormwater drain is 15-18”. These tunnels are 3’ wide by 5’ tall. They can be restored for a fraction of the cost of building a new drainage system. Who knew? Matt is the Director of Stormwater Management for the city and will explain to us how these old sewer tunnels might help alleviate the persistent flooding downtown.

Required reading: https://www.postandcourier.com/news/fixing-centuries-old-brick-tunnels-under-charleston-could-ease-flooding-woes/article_a1a18a08-eeab-11ed-9d89-f7c8ea969a2f.html