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John G. Crowe Associates Designs Series of Wet Ponds
To address this issue, John G. Crowe Associates developed a series of wet ponds, taking into consideration the watershed area, types of pollutants, nutrients, pesticides, run-off siltration and sedimentation. They built an underground pre-treatment system that percolates the water to the adjacent wetlands, thus controlling the flow of the run-off. Upstream, Pond A receives all of the water from the surrounding site and contains it for about a month allowing silts and sediment to settle. The adjacent 37,000 square feet of wetland vegetation improves the quality of water with cattails removing up to 700 lbs. of nitrates and 72 lbs. of phosphates. The fountains in the pond aerate the water supplying oxygenation to control the growth of the harmful anaerobic bacteria. John G. Crowe Associates also worked with the City of Cambridge on the Winter Street drainage system, building a pre-treatment marsh to help clean up the pollutants caused by traffic. Other considerations for the landscaping of Waltham Woods included screening the parking area from the adjacent landowners. Strips of original trees and chunks of naturalized landscaping were left intact in order to decrease water flow, fertilization and use of pesticides as well as to preserve the woodland effect of the property. |
One
of the major obstacles to developing the extremely large Waltham Woods
facility was the watershed discharge which runs directly into a public
water supply. It was a requirement that the water leave the property at
the same quality and velocity as it had when the area was wooded. 
Pond
B collects run-off from the upland part of the site and also functions
as a fire protection pond. The water further percolates down to Pond A
for cleaning. Closer to the reservoir is Pond C which, like Pond A, contains
the run-off and slowly improves the quality of the water with the aid
of wetland vegetation.