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3-1 <br />CHAPTER 3 <br />A PHILOSOPHY FOR DETENTION BASINS <br />A recent article by Debo and Ruby entitled "Detention Basins - An Urban <br />Experience" in the January, 1982, issue of Public Works magazine detailed the <br />problems of detention basins as they have evolved in the Atlanta, Georgia area. <br />The Atlanta experience is not unlike the experiences of other cities around <br />the United States. However, rather than allowing these experiences to sour us <br />on detention basins, let us instead use these recent unhappy experiences to <br />serve as the basis of a philosophy for detention basins which will ensure that <br />they will look and function as they were meant to. <br />We will do this by first reviewing the Debo and Ruby article and then use <br />it to develop the several parts of a philosophy for detention basins. Their <br />article discussed six areas of concern: <br />1. maintenance problems <br />2. health and safety problems <br />3. flood control effectiveness <br />4. esthetics and cost <br />5. perceptions of nearby residents <br />6. perceptions of county engineers <br />Maintenance responsibility of detention basins, which are scattered through- <br />out the greater Atlanta area, was originally assigned to the adjacent land <br />owners but recently local jurisdictions have been accepting the responsibility <br />for maintenance. Several maintenance problems which have arisen are listed below. <br />1. Many detention basins have been located in remote areas of developments <br />where access for maintenance is difficult. <br />�%W' <br />