Matthew Fountain, City of Charleston Stormwater Management

We went underground during today's meeting of the Rotary Club of Daniel Island to explore what the City of Charleston is doing to refurbish, repair and strengthen its storm water management and flood plan infrastructure. Guest speaker, Matthew Fountain, Director of Storm Water Management for the city, shared updates on multiple projects including Huger and King Street where a large pump station and wet well is being built to contain flooding. Fountain (interesting name given his focus is water containment) talked about multiple projects impacting Limehouse, Tradd, Logan, Cummings and Calhoun Street, Concord, Spring and Fishburne, among others. The city is also rebuilding 10 miles of brick arches, built in the 1850s, with steel mesh and gunite walls to improve the city's drainage system. "Most of our work is underground and people only see the impact at the street level with traffic tie ups. So, it's nice to explain these issues particularly as we plan for bigger hurricanes hitting us," said Fountain.