Ellicott City breaks ground on largest flood control pond to date
BALTIMORE -- Howard County Executive Calvin Ball and community members broke ground on the next step in the Ellicott City Safe and Sound plan.
The "H-4" is the newest and largest city flood control pond to date. It works proactively to protect and preserve the city in case of future flooding.
"Together we will ensure this town becomes a better place and becomes a national model for flood mitigation," said Howard County Executive Calvin Ball.
Ball's Safe and Sound initiative launched after flooding pummeled old Ellicott City in 2018, less than two years after rainfall flooded the same area in 2016.
Serena McIlwain, Secretary of Maryland Department of Environment, commented on the plan stating, "We are saving business, and we are preparing Maryland for disasters in the future should they come our way."
H-4 is one of five retention ponds and two conveyance projects all to divert water away from Main Street.
"We just continue to rebuild and make this city beautiful and resilient," Mcllwain said.
"The now opened stream channel and surrounding area will become an expanded Tiber Park with space for residents and visitors to play, take in the outdoors...and more" Ball explained.
The nearly 4-million-dollar project will hold around 5-and-a-half-million gallons of stormwater, working to safeguard the community against the impacts of climate change.
"It's projects like this that help me feel like it's worth having my business here, worth continuing to invest in the community," Julia Sanger, President of Ellicott City Partnership said.
Alli Krist, owner of Backwater Books, also reflected on the project saying, "We were confident in our community and community leaders to invest in...environmental initiatives, and we are already seeing that, and we are excited for what's happened already, and I look forward to the future."
Construction will soon begin along Frederick Road, just west of U.S. 29.
The project is expected to be complete by September 2025.