Luis Perez Demorizi, Newton’s Director of Parks and Open Space, describes in the video above how the new flood mitigation system will work at Albemarle.
In a big rainstorm, the water rushing downhill from Crafts St and Avery Woods will be caught and held in a basin under the field, where it will percolate straight down into the soil. This will keep it from flowing into Cheesecake Brook and rushing downstream towards the river.
There are also other mitigations being phased in, all of which use pausing and diversion to essentially slow the timing of flooding. But the field surface will still be floodable, as it’s always been, and in response to local questions, there won’t be any pumps involved.
Below are some diagrams to help illustrate this new feature of Albemarle.
Friends of Albemarle 