VALPARAISO – Save the Dunes, in partnership with the city of Valparaiso, will hold a groundbreaking ceremony at 1 p.m. today for the new Thorgren detention basin.

The city will begin work to retrofit the basin to improve its ability to remove pollutants from stormwater. The project involves removing concrete and replacing it with a naturalized, meandering waterway. Existing turfgrass will be replaced with native plantings in wetland and prairie planting zones.

The two-acre Thorgren detention basin is owned by Valparaiso to temporarily store stormwater from 530-acres of residential and commercial land.