The Natural Resources Conservation Service and Bucks County are updating the Neshaminy Watershed Plan in an effort to reduce flood damage in the lower Neshaminy. Over the last 20 years, pursuant to the original Watershed Plan, eight flood control dams have been built, but this system doesn't afford enough flood protection. So the question now is whether or not to complete the original plan by building the Dark Hollow Dam, an impoundment proposed for the main stem of the Neshaminy on the border of Buckingham and Warwick Townships. Nonstructural alternatives focus on prevention, on keeping precipitation on the land to recharge groundwater and prevent polluting run-off. They include changing municipal development regulations so that all land disturbance allows nature to work and maximize infiltration.
Structural alternatives can offer site-specific as well as overall protection.
Many existing stormwater detention basins are not functioning as they were designed and fixing these malfunctions will immediately benefit those downstream. Taking this a step further, retrofitting existing basins in key positions so that they infiltrate rather than simply temporarily hold back runoff, will afford protection to those directly below. Direct benefit will also result from re-engineering existing point discharges to the creek. Diking or berming may be spot solutions for stream-side communities who suffer repeated damage, especially to historic structures. The restoration of a forested bend in the stream where it has been channelized in the past can slow floodwater velocity.