SPRINGFIELD – Effingham County residents had a chance to pinpoint their problems – at least when it comes to poor drainage and flooding – during a special event on March 2.

Engineers from Pond, an architecture, engineering, planning and construction firm, listened as residents indicated areas of concern on a series of maps in the Effingham County Board of Commissioners meeting room. The two-hour open house with the board consultant was the first round of engagement opportunities for the public to provide input for the county’s Stormwater Master Plan.

“We are gathering information from the community to address any local concerns that they have with flooding or maintenance issues with the (stormwater) infrastructure,” Pond water resource engineer Madison Wichmann said. “Basically, we are taking those concerns and documenting them to better pinpoint their location to at least further our modeling and addressing those concerns."

The maps featured watersheds.

“There are 15 in the county and each map features at least one of those,” said Chris Fagerstrom, another Pond water resource engineer. “… We are trying to solicit input to help calibrate our models and verify our results and help to identify areas where we may want to plan future projects.”

Ultimately, the information will be used to formulate the Stormwater Master Plan. The date for the second round of public will be announced soon.