Efforts to improve drainage in the Beulah community and protect the environment of Wolf Bay are moving forward with state funding.

Foley City Council recently accepted a grant from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management to support ongoing improvements at the Beulah Heights Regional Stormwater Facility in southeast Foley.

Mayor Ralph Hellmich said the city has been updating the 480-acre project, which began in 2008, to better manage stormwater and protect local waterways.

“The water was going directly into Wolf Creek and degrading it, because there was no retention,” Hellmich said. “This put that water into a retention basin and that worked really well.”

The current phase of the project will expand drainage and water quality improvements in the area. “When you get this system in place, you can start going upstream and replacing pipes,” Hellmich said. “That won’t do any good without the improvements. It's really a regional program to fix the Beulah Heights area.”

Foley Sustainability and Natural Resources Director Leslie Gahagan said the project will reduce flooding and lower the risk of damage to the stormwater system.

“This project is to retrofit it to fit more in low impact development, to increase the capacity so that that stormwater in that area will now have a place to go,” she said. “The stormwater will be filtered out for pollutants before it discharges to Wolf Creek in the south.”

In addition to the ADEM grant, Foley received funding from the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, which covered some project costs.

“This is a really good project, and we've received funding already for this project from another source of money, and so this is a second source that's come in that will help close the gaps,” Gahagan said.

The project also includes a new sediment-trapping system, designed to prevent material from settling in the retention pond. Previously, Foley Public Works crews had to dig sediment out manually to keep the system functional.

“That wasn't very feasible,” Gahagan said. “This allows us to maintain it in perpetuity.”