A study and plan in connection with the Northampton Area Middle School project for a new drainage field and irrigation system has been approved by the Northampton Area School District school board.

The school board voted 8-0, with one member absent, to spend $24,000 to determine the feasibility of the project and provide for alternate bids.

The goal of the project is to build a drainage reservoir under a proposed athletic field on the site of the Northampton Area Middle School, once the 1968 facility is demolished after the new middle school is built and open for classes.

At the recommendation of the administration, the school board approved Advantage Engineers, Allentown, to undertake an additional geotechnical investigation at a cost not to exceed $3,000, as part of an already approved contract with the firm.

The administration recommended and the school board also approved an architect's and consultant's fee of $21,000 to incorporate the design of the extension of the irrigation system to the upper athletic fields and to include a turf field for the bus-loop area as an alternate in bids for the middle school project.

MKSD Architects is the middle school project architect and D'Huy Engineering, Inc. is project consulting engineer.

NASD Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik emphasized that the $21,000 is already included in the middle school project budget.

Discussion concerning improving the drainage and the athletic fields originated at the Aug. 27 board meeting during a middle school project update presented by Christopher W. Haller, project manager of D'Huy Engineering Inc.

Kovalchik asked Haller to present the material again at the Sept. 10 meeting for school directors who did not attend the Aug.. 27 meeting.

School board member Darin Arthofer questioned the cost of the study and design. He was told the cost would be $24,000.

The cost of doing the drainage reservoir and water line project is estimated at $100,000. This amount is also to be included in the middle school budget.

At the Sept. 10 board meeting, Haller reiterated the three alternatives for controlling drainage.

The first option would be to construct an underground drainage holding area.

The second option involves setting up a sprinkler system at the field and allowing the water to evaporate, Haller said.

The third option is infiltration, Haller said, whereby storm water would be distributed over the field. Haller added this would not be a prudent course because of the likelihood of sinkholes, which are a problem in predominantly limestone subsoil, which typifies the Northampton campus and many areas in the Lehigh Valley.

A four-foot diameter pipe would carry water from the underground drainage facility to the athletic fields, which lack adequate watering, according to NASD officials. A valve would also be placed at the bus-loop field for access to the water.

"Those are troubled fields up there. You really don't get any water now," school board member Jennifer Miller said.

The water line would require excavating an approximate two-foot-wide trench through a parking lot for it to reach the athletic fields.

Underground utility lines would need to be identified and negotiated.

"If you opt not to do it [artificial turf for the bus-loop field], you could do it in the future," Haller said.

The Department of Environmental Protection requires storm water management.