Dean Rusk Park Pond Project Overview

The Department of Watershed Management (DWM) hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 22, 2021 celebrating the $1.9 M stormwater infrastructure improvements at Dean Rusk Park. Located in the Ashview Heights Neighborhood in Atlanta, these improvements make Dean Rusk Park Pond the first smart pond in the City of Atlanta.

The Dean Rusk detention pond was constructed in 2003 to manage stormwater runoff after flooding to the Booker T. Washington and Ashview Heights communities.

The recent improvements increase the pond’s storage capacity and includes a monitoring system to manage water depth. The upgrades also incorporated green infrastructure.

Numerous community and environmental organizations and institutions contributed to the ongoing improvements at Dean Rusk Park Pond. These included the Ashview Heights Neighborhood Association, Friends of Dean Rusk Park, Truly Living Well Urban Farm, Morehouse College, Park Pride, and Trees Atlanta.

“This $1.9 million endeavor is part of our Annual Upgrades and Improvements Project funded by the Municipal Option Local Sales Tax,” said DWM Commissioner Mikita Browning. The Dean Rusk Park Pond project is one our first stormwater projects that utilized this type of funding to implement both green and gray infrastructure components. This project exemplifies our commitment to improve our water and wastewater system.”

Green infrastructure included rain gardens, which captures and treats stormwater runoff from surrounding impervious surfaces such as sidewalks and driveways. In addition, a floating wetland boom between the forebay and the main pond serves as a back-up trash interceptor that can open to allow overflow during major storm events. Gray infrastructure components include replacing the trash interceptor and the installation a pilot monitoring system with adaptive control of the pond outlet. This allows the volume of the pond water to decrease prior to a storm event to provide additional storage capacity.