City approves sampling study of Miller Showers Park to assess 20-year stormwater performance

The City of Bloomington Utilities Board approved a service agreement with Ratio Architects on Jan. 29 to conduct sampling and a retrospective study of Miller Showers Park, the stormwater facility designed roughly 20 years ago.

Kelsey Latony, assistant director for environmental, told the board Ratio — the original designer — proposed a study and presentation accepted for a national green-space conference in Austin. The city would fund the sampling portion and Ratio would carry out site access and data collection. Latony said the sampling package will include suspended solids, basic nutrient panels, E. coli, oils and grease, and additional testing (staff said the IU laboratory partner may run PFAS analyses) to give a well-rounded view of the facility’s performance.

Staff said recent dredging will allow a better assessment of how the system functions after maintenance. Latony described the work as a snapshot focused on several flow events rather than a long-term monitoring program, but suggested a summer internship or follow-on sampling could extend the dataset if desired.

Board members discussed the timeline given winter weather and the contract-expiration dates; staff said the sampling should be wrapped up by spring but could seek an extension if necessary. The board approved the agreement after a motion and second.

Why it matters: the study aims to provide empirical data on a mature green-infrastructure installation to inform future city stormwater design decisions and to provide public-facing findings about the facility’s long-term performance.

What’s next: staff will coordinate sampling logistics with Ratio and the IU lab partner and report results to the board once analyses are complete.