Services
Drainage & Detention Basins — Arizona
Jenterra builds detention and retention basins, stabilizes the channels that feed them, installs storm drainage piping and structures, and places liners where a basin needs to hold water rather than let it infiltrate. Basins are graded to the volumes and outlet control an engineer specifies, and channel and basin banks are stabilized before the first storm tests them.
Basin construction
A detention basin is only as good as its grading and outlet structure. We excavate and grade to the design volume and side slopes, install outlet control structures, trash racks and spillways per the plan, and stabilize the banks so the basin doesn't erode into the volume it's supposed to hold.
- Detention and retention basin excavation and grading
- Outlet structures, weirs and spillways
- Basin liner installation where infiltration is restricted by design
- Bank stabilization with geocell, blanket or riprap systems
- Trash racks and maintenance access
Channel stabilization
Washes and constructed channels that feed a basin take the highest flow velocities on a site during a monsoon event, which is exactly where undersized stabilization fails first. We stabilize channel beds and banks with the system sized to the design flow — vegetated geocell where velocities allow it, riprap or engineered armoring where they don't — and tie it into the basin inlet so erosion upstream doesn't fill the basin with sediment it wasn't sized to store.
Storm drainage and liner installation
We install the storm drain piping, area drains, catch basins and headwalls that move water from grading to a basin or outfall, and place synthetic or clay liners where a basin, channel or pond is designed to hold water rather than infiltrate it. Liner seams and anchor trenches are installed to the manufacturer's spec, since a liner is only watertight if the seams are done right.
Frequently asked questions
- Do you design the basin or just build it?
- We build to the civil engineer's design — grading, structures, liner and stabilization. For smaller or straightforward drainage improvements we can coordinate with a design engineer as part of the scope.
- Why does a basin need bank stabilization if it's already graded?
- Graded slopes without surface protection erode under repeated inflow, which fills the basin with sediment and reduces the volume it was designed to hold. Stabilizing the banks up front protects the basin's function over its service life.
- What determines whether a basin needs a liner?
- It comes down to the design intent and the soil's infiltration rate — retention basins meant to infiltrate typically don't need one, while basins near structures, on poor infiltration soils, or required to hold water for a set duration usually do. That's a design engineer's call, and we install to whatever the plan specifies.
Tell us your site. We'll send an estimate.
Scope, location, timeline — and whether you need materials, installation, or both. We respond with clear next steps.