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Capital Improvements Program: Engineering

CIP Project Descriptions and Maps

Descriptions and maps of the Engineering Capital Improvements Program (CIP) Projects planned for execution in upcoming years are available through the following links.

• For information on Engineering CIP projects within the City of Rockville, start with the map of CIP Neighborhoods. By selecting any of the six Neighborhoods, the CIP Project locations within each Neighborhood will be displayed. Any single project in the Neighborhood can then be selected to view a detailed aerial photo map along with descriptive information.

• Some CIP projects are more geographically distributed in nature or are otherwise not well-suited for mapping. For information on these projects see the page of Distributed Projects.

• For direct access to the entire set of CIP projects, see the Complete List of Utility and Water Resources CIP Projects.

Background: Water Resource and Utility CIP Projects

The Water Resource and Utility project portion of the CIP contain projects which provide for the preservation, restoration, and care of the City’s natural and man-made physical resources, specifically through stormwater management (SWM), sewage disposal, and water treatment.

Several large SWM facilities will be required to upgrade and extend the City's system to improve the quality of Rockville’s streams and to relieve flooding, erosion and sedimentation problems. A combination of enclosed underground pipe systems and open, preserved water courses are planned to accommodate flooding from infrequent major storms as well as seasonal storms.

Stormwater Management. High levels of runoff and urban pollutants from existing development in Rockville exacerbate stream erosion and degrade water quality and aquatic life. To address these problems, watershed management plans have been developed for the City’s three watersheds to evaluate stream conditions, to identify locations of needed improvements, and to recommend CIP projects for stormwater management and stream restoration.

Rockville’s watershed management plans are reviewed and updated approximately every ten years. The currently active plans are:

• Cabin John Creek Watershed Management Plan, adopted February 1996,
• Rock Creek Watershed Management Plan, adopted April 2000, and
• Watts Branch Watershed Management Plan, adopted August 2001.

These plans evaluate five management aspects:

1. Natural resource protection and environmental quality.
2. Recreation and parks preservation needs.
3. Neighborhood concerns.
4. City infrastructure protection.
5. Stormwater management and stream restoration goals.

The City’s watershed management plans contribute to the region-wide effort to improve the Chesapeake Bay. Our watershed plans support the goals of the voluntary C2K (Chesapeake Bay Agreement) initiatives as well as the mandatory Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) requirements imposed through the Clean Water Act. Additionally, our watershed plans are a component of the mandatory National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) requirements, which are also imposed through the Clean Water Act.

Utility Projects

Water and Wastewater Systems. Rockville’s water and wastewater infrastructure is periodically analyzed for the ability to provide sufficient capacity for the Master Plan level of development. These comprehensive studies determine deficiencies and propose capital improvement projects for correcting them.

Identified water system inadequacies are in some cases due to aging and normal deterioration, while in other cases deficiencies develop due to increased levels of development causing the infrastructure to be overburdened. Improvements range from cleaning and lining of existing water lines to adding new lines or increasing the sizes of existing water mains.

The most recent water system study was performed in 1994, and was augmented in 2000 for the area around Thomas Farm and in 2004 for the Rockville Town Center.  The next comprehensive water system analysis is currently under way.

Rockville’s three sewer drainage regions, or sewer sheds, are periodically examined to determine what upgrades, if any, are required to convey sewage associated with projected levels of development. In 2003, a comprehensive, three-year, Sanitary Sewer Evaluation Study (SSES) was initiated in the Cabin John sewer shed. This study will determine the locations of high levels of infiltration and inflow which can be economically removed from the sewer system. A portion of the Rock Creek sewer shed is also being evaluated in this study, from which recommendations were made in 2005. The Watts Branch sewer shed was studied in 1996, the improvements from which have already been implemented.

Photos

Page updated: February 15, 2008