Killing two birds with one stone. This was the idea behind Mammoth Sports Construction’s presentation at Monday evening’s joint meeting of the Iola City Council and school board. Riverside Park poses flooding issues for the city and USD 257 has a need for ballfields that can still be utilized following heavy rains. The solution? Synthetic turf fields, bigger holding ponds and larger pumps to mitigate and redirect flood waters, according to Mammoth. The scope of the $3.733 million project includes an artificial turf softball, baseball, and football field that will help store flood waters during a major storm event. The fields would operate as water detention areas from which water would be redirected north of the football field and west to a detention pond in a picnic area. From these locations, the water would then be pumped beyond the park’s levee to the north and west. The fields would include layers of sand and rock, with trenches. In times of heavy rains, the runoff would be stored in a perimeter drain that reroutes the water to a holding pond.
Source: The Iola Register
