Stormwater Infrastructure Design

Erdman Anthony designed the plans and specifications for this $5 million divide spillway for the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD). The divide spillway is a fully automated, three-gate structure, with a peak capacity of 2,600 cubic feet per second.  It is located along a levee in SFWMD’s Stormwater Treatment Area 1E, near West Palm Beach, Florida.

SFWMD needed a divide structure within the stormwater treatment areas to increase the capacity of the flow, enabling the transfer of stormwater runoff for delivery for treatment or to the flow equalization basin (FEB) for storage and subsequent treatment.

This project had five main elements: 

• Remove the existing gated divide culverts
• Replace them with a new gated divide spillway
• Remove a portion of the existing levee due west of the new gated spillway to allow flow to enter the storage basin
• Armor the north side of the canal at an easement
• Provide an emergency generator for the new gated divide spillway that would also serve the existing structure approximately 1,000 feet to the south

The structure is located along the levee that separates the eastern and western distribution cells and allows SFWMD to manage and control water with bidirectional flow. 

SFWMD can now manage water by storing it in the FEB during periods of heavy runoff and routing it to the stormwater treatment areas during dry periods. This allows SFWMD to: 

• Treat more water rather than discharging excess runoff to tide
• Keep the stormwater treatment areas at a proper depth of water during the dry season, thus improving the water quality and helping to maintain the stormwater treatment areas

Erdman Anthony’s design was completed on time, which was critical because this project included a consent order to begin construction by a specified date. The project resulted in tight bids, with few change orders due to the quality of the plans and specifications prepared by our firm.

Sustainable Design Impact The divide spillway helps manage stormwater and makes it possible to route the runoff to a storage basin for future treatment, which keeps the treatment areas at a proper depth and improves overall water quality.