SLR wins ACEC NY Platinum Engineering Excellence Award for Stony Clove Creek stream turbidity reduction project

SLR has been honored by the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York (ACEC NY) with a Platinum Engineering Excellence Award in Water Resources for our work on reducing turbidity issues in the Stony Clove Creek watershed outside Lanesville, NY.

The Stony Clove Creek watershed is an important contributor to New York City's drinking water supply. The creek is a natural mountain stream that provides habitat for fish and other aquatic organisms. SLR is proud to have worked with the Ashokan Watershed Stream Management Program, the Ulster County Soil and Water Conservation District, and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to provide an innovative, resilient, and sustainable design solution for this area.

About the Stony Clove Creek turbidity reduction project

The Stony Clove Creek watershed contributes to the Ashokan Reservoir, one of the largest in the New York City drinking water supply system. The watershed was known to be a major contributor of suspended sediments to the water supply caused by bank erosion/bank failures during major flooding events. With the threat of climate change increasing the number and severity of flooding events expected in this area, the watershed’s riverbanks needed to be dramatically stabilized before another major event occurred.

SLR was selected by the Ashokan Watershed Stream Management Program, the Ulster County Soil and Water Conservation District, and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to provide a resilient, nature-based solution that would address the erosion threats that contributed sediments to the stream with minimal unnecessary distribution of the stream’s ecological, geomorphological, and aesthetic characteristics.

SLR provided a combination of techniques to the project, including the protection and stabilization of steep slopes along the creek, the installation of boulder-grade control structures, bioengineered channel banks, riffle-pool channels, and in-stream structures. The entire project covered approximately 1,500 linear feet of stream corridor and has thus far proved successful in reducing turbidity in the area while maintaining the natural flow of the water source.

To learn more about the Stony Clove Creek project, click here.