TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) – Terre Haute City Hall is making plans to construct an environmentally friendly parking lot. The announcement came Tuesday as part of a special meeting of the city sanitation board. Tuesday was the deadline for contractor bid submissions.
“The green infrastructure keeps the storm water from washing off the parking lot and discharging directly into the Wabash River,” city engineer Chuck Ennis said. “The idea is to percolate that water into the soil and filtering it before it gets into the ground water.”
The proposed parking lot would stop contaminated storm water from being discharged into the Wabash River. It would be partially paid for by a state grant.
Ennis says the lot is part of a larger initiative to improve the city’s environmental footprint, and reduce the impact of vehicles parked at city hall.
“Discharging storm water directly into the river is kind of frowned upon. As it washes off the parking lot it picks up contaminants from the surface of the lot. Anything that comes, any liquids that come off of the vehicle is getting picked up and discharged into the river,” Ennis said.
Four companies submitted bids to built the parking lot, and all of them are local contractors. Ennis and the board will meet again on June 1 to announce their decision.
