Report addresses flooding issues in Cicero and Berwyn
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Urban flooding in the Chicago suburbs of Cicero and Berwyn has ravaged streets and basements during heavy storms. In an effort to help, Clinical Associate Professor Joseph Schulenberg has been working with the communities for several years to address the issues, and he recently updated the Cicero/Berwyn Flooding Report, addressing the key issues and potential solutions.
The report revealed several significant findings. While Chicago basement flooding is a major issue, it is more likely to affect minority populations. It showed that if the minority population in an area is less than 20%, there is a 67% chance that the community will have a high susceptibility to basement flooding. However, if the minority population is 80% or more, then there is a 97% chance that the community will have a high susceptibility to basement flooding.
“Another major finding is that basement flooding is driven by ground elevation. The flood complaints noted Berwyn’s Stormwater Management Plan of 2012 correlate very strongly with lower ground elevation,” Schulenberg said.
The report noted that methods such as rain barrels have little to no benefit. Rain gardens offer moderate benefits, while check valves appear to be the best option, but this shifts the responsibility for operation and maintenance onto the residents. Several funding mechanisms were identified, including HUD Community Development Block Grants, which were ultimately the source that Cicero turned to after the July 2023 flood, where they received $96 million to address flooding concerns.
“This report identifies the importance of communication between residents and the town. Villages such as Winnetka and Lincolnwood have well-developed websites to share information regarding basement flooding with their residents. Observations regarding methods to communicate and how to address linguistically isolated portions of the community can be used by Cicero as they administer programs to address basement flooding,” Schulenberg said.
The report can help the towns by providing simple measures, such as evaluating topography, which can aid other communities in addressing flooding.
“It can help residents understand which types of measures can help, such as check valves with overhead sewers, and which will not, such as rain barrels,” he said.
In addition to helping the communities, Schulenberg is using this report as a case study in the classroom.
“I’ve worked this example into the Senior Design classes and Water Resources Engineering, and this example is included in the textbook, Hydrology and Green Infrastructure Systems, authored with faculty member Christopher Burke and his associate Luke Sherry,” he said.