Frank Burdick’s Log Number: N/A

Submitted by: email

Category (1,2,3): 2

Status: Closed

Estimated date to address: N/A

A couple of weeks ago, I heard a guest speaker on the Mitch Albom Show on WJR.  He was from the company "Parjana." [Parjana.com] He gave a very brief presentation of his innovation. One thing he said was the cost to remedy a wet area on a typical home's yard was approx $4000. 

Robert with OHM also heard the program and he and I have discussed it. Robert was able to find the attached link.

Because I believe that all of the current ongoing studies are are all intertwined, I felt that this was very appropriate to the "potential solutions" phase of all of the studies.  

Please review and forward this along.

EMAIL COMMENT by Robert Czachorski:

the product that was mentioned is made by Parjana.  Take a look at Parjana.com  They have a product to assist in improving infiltration to dry up land more quickly after rain events, based on what we’ve been able to gather.  They have a demo project on Belle Isle. It looks more applicable to stormwater runoff than footing drains to me.  I suppose it could be helpful if there were not a suitable stormwater outlet from an FDD.

EMAIL COMMENT by Evan Pratt, Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner:

I am aware of this product, have met with sales representatives multiple times, and visited a field installation in progress in Canton last fall.  I have requested some additional specifics from the sales reps a few times but have not received the information.  Coincidentally I sent them a reminder of the information I have requested just today, as they were interested in meeting again. 

It is certainly on the radar screen for us to assess where it might be viable to use, and sounds like they have gotten some good results, although at this stage of development, they have a hard time quantifying predicted results before an installation.  I am told that this is because they don’t fully understand exactly the extent of how/why it works. 

When I say predicted results, I mean two things relevant to the Upper Mallett’s neighborhood, the first being simply quantifying the amount of water it can absorb into the ground, and whether that water would negatively impact anyone’s basement once absorbed.  The Catch-22 in this situation is that we want to intercept any water we can, but anything added to the groundwater table would most likely add to wet basement problems.  They tell me that the product helps accelerate groundwater transportation laterally, which has many implications in a neighborhood with wet basement and high groundwater issues, much like the other infiltration solutions we have considered – in short I would expect we would have to prove there would be no negative impact, something the Parjana folks have not been able to address.  

Independent of the product or technique, the groundwater and wet basement issue, coupled with the stated goal of no negative downstream impact and the fact that the neighborhoods were constructed in an era where stormwater storage was not provided, has left us with strategic storage as the best feasible alternative.

I am hopeful that this is a product that might be useful somewhere, and would be particularly interested if an individual homeowner plans to try it out, as I understand the original application by the inventor was to address poor/slow rear yard drainage at his own home. 

Thank you for offering up this information

Evan N. Pratt, P.E.