Will Connor ( left ), Director of Major Repairs and Replacements ), Ryan Ellmers ( center , KICA civil engineer ), and resilence manager , Lucas Hernandez ( right ) at the Pond 30 site before completion .
Even amid a pandemic , members clearly saw the urgency of these projects . At KICA ’ s March Annual Meeting ( before the lockdown ), the task force presented its findings to the community , asking them to vote in favor of their solutions to these issues . When the vote ended in May 2020 , KICA and its Water Management Task Force had received a mandate from members to address flooding with new infrastructure in critical areas around the Island . The proposal was approved with a resounding 82 percent of members in favor .
KICA began working on the projects later that same month to meet the proposed time frame : all six projects completed by the end of 2022 . In fact , KICA had permits in hand for the first projects before members received their first Flood Mitigation assessment in June . Six months later , the most critical task has been completed , and the core of a second project has been accomplished . These initial projects have been on time and under budget .
A New Exit for Water When the task force reviewed the Island ’ s drainage issues , KICA ’ s staff engineers identified one problem with widespread consequences . The Island had a bottleneck that needed to be resolved ; 37 of KICA ’ s ponds drained through a single exit
WINTER / SPRING 2021 • VOLUME 43 point , with water in the furthest ponds traveling three miles to the Beachwalker outfall in Inlet Cove . A significant rainfall could overwhelm the drainage system , creating dangerous flooding on Kiawah Island Parkway , as well as other secondary roads in the center of the Island . The task force proposed an entirely new outfall to divide the drainage basin and relieve the eastern side of the Beachwalker system .
The Pond 30 outfall structure , located across from Sora Rail , and connecting drainage infrastructure are now complete . Water on the north side of the parkway from the Settlement neighborhood now travels one mile to exit through the new outfall , instead of three miles . Most critically , this new outfall structure supports the V-gate intersection ; previously , this area was the last to drain in the Beachwalker system . ( See photo next page .)
After an unusual amount of rainy weather ( 3.25 inches of rain over three days ) shortly after completion , the results were clear : Kiawah Island Parkway did not flood in the area the Pond 30 outfall was intended to affect . During that time , tide levels were actually higher than accounted for in the original study , reaching eight feet on Friday , Nov . 13 . 29