ZELIENOPLE — The borough is looking into stormwater drainage improvements to potentially be installed in conjunction with a new pool.

Borough Engineer Tom Thompson said Monday night he is working on a plan for a new drainage system that would reduce the risk of flooding in both the Community Park and elsewhere in the borough.

Though he has yet to contact the state Department of Environmental Protection to see what would be permissible, the project would involve widening a stream bed that carries runoff water through the park and installing a box culvert underneath the road.

Since the area sometimes acts as a bottleneck for water, the improvements would allow more water to flow through and there could also be a storage area where some water could collect during a storm.

“That’s what we’re thinking about, to be able to at least stabilize that area to keep erosion from happening, and also to utilize that as a storage area,” Thompson said.

Last year, borough council authorized Thompson to undertake a stormwater study to look at drainage issues throughout the borough after water flooded both the pool area and parts of Main Street after a storm in June.

Runoff water from Interstate 79 and areas with higher elevation is carried through the park by a small creek. Following the storm in June, the water went above the banks and caused the pool to shut down for a day to be drained, cleaned and refilled.

The project could be done as part of the planned construction of a new pool, or as a separate borough project, said Borough Manager Done Pepe.

“It could give both the pool project and the skateboard project the potential to be able to not worry about the creek at all; that issue would go away,” Pepe said.

A committee of the Park Association board is hoping to apply for a state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant that would include the drainage improvements as part of the construction of a new pool, said Barb Brizendine, the chairwoman of the committee.

The committee hopes to raise $2.1 million from three sources: grants, the borough and private donations. They will not apply for the grant until borough council gives consent and pledges to provide funds for a required match, Brizendine said.

The estimated cost of the new pool is only $1.4 million, though the board hopes to also do improvements to the green space surrounding the pool and renovations to the bath house to make it handicap accessible along with the new stormwater drainage, which it tentatively estimated to cost $75,000.

Thompson said the borough has yet to estimate a cost for the work. The cost could be reduced if it is able to do the labor with its own streets department.

Another potential issue with the DEP is that the park is labeled as a habitat for an endangered species: the Carolina leaf flower. Though the borough is not aware of any of the flowers growing in the park, it has been identified as a place where they could grow, Thompson said.