A local non-profit led by a group of Chestnut Hill neighbors has won a $315,209 grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection to design engineering solutions for chronic flooding along the Wissahickon Creek near Chestnut Hill College. 

According to a press release issued last week, Responsible Preservation, Inc. said it was “pleased to report that our grant has been approved and that we have now commenced work to design curative changes to this reach of the Wissahickon.”

The group has hired Aterra, led by Joe Bellini, PE, with Tom Saldutti, P.E. Water Resources Engineer and consulting Geomorphologist Shandor Szalay to design, develop, and prepare engineering documents for the restoration of a 3,000-foot stretch of the creek between Northwestern and Germantown Avenues. 

“This first step will address the destabilization of the creek due to significant erosion and environmental degradation,” the press release said. “Our long-term goal is to devise means to restore the creek bed in such a way as to provide long-term stability by placing the stream into a lower energy state through channel realignment and lowering.”

According to the release, a proposed realignment of the creek bed would reduce flooding at both Chestnut Hill College, surrounding properties, and downstream.

“We will be able to improve bordering stream bank conditions and reduce sediment loadings going into the Schuylkill,” the release stated. 

The group said it will need additional funding to implement the plan, and will report back to the community in 2024. It is also working with adjacent property owners to replace invasive species “that have intruded and taken over parts of this reach of the Wissahickon.”