by Shane Henson — April 26, 2013—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced the four winners of its Campus RainWorks Challenge, a new design challenge created to inspire the next generation of landscape architects, planners and engineers to develop innovative green infrastructure systems that reduce stormwater pollution and support sustainable communities.
Stormwater is one of the most widespread challenges to water quality in the nation, although it is often overshadowed by other natural and man-made problems. As the EPA notes, large volumes of stormwater pollute the nation’s streams, rivers and lakes, posing a threat to human health and contributing to downstream flooding.
The Campus RainWorks Challenge engages students and faculty members at colleges and universities to apply green infrastructure principles and design, encourage interdisciplinary collaboration, and increase the use of green infrastructure on campuses across the nation. Teams of undergraduate and graduate students, working with a faculty advisor, developed innovative green infrastructure designs for a site on their campus showing how managing stormwater at its source can benefit the campus community and the environment. The designs the colleges developed could be tweaked to reduce stormwater in a variety of public and private areas.
The challenge received submissions from 218 teams. The winners are:
Second prize, Large Institution: University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
The team’s design plan centers on the redevelopment of Reitz Lawn, an 11-acre open area and pedestrian corridor on campus. The plan aims to remove pollutants from stormwater before they reach nearby Lake Alice, which drains directly into the Floridian Aquifer. The team’s plan incorporated student input into the project design and will include an educational component to raise awareness about how water travels through the urban environment.
Second prize, Small Institution: Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL
The team’s design plan centers on the redevelopment of a 1,200-foot-long section of Dearborn Street on campus. The plan incorporates a number of green infrastructure design elements, including rain gardens that double as outdoor seating areas and permeable walkways. The plan estimates that, through collection, infiltration, and storage, stormwater runoff will be reduced from the site by 70 to 80 percent.
Second prize, Large Institution: University of Arizona, Tuscon, AZ
The team’s design plan centers on the redevelopment of a 70,000-square-foot parking lot located within a cluster of academic buildings. The design will replace the parking lot with a campus common area featuring two rings of retention basins to infiltrate stormwater runoff, five underground cisterns to harvest runoff and heating, air conditioning and ventilation condensate from the adjacent buildings, and a translucent shade structure with an ephemeral water feature. Water collected in the underground cisterns is used to irrigate the landscape, reducing potable water use from 700,000 to 90,000 gallons/year.
Second prize, Small Institution: Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO
The team’s design plan focuses on three green infrastructure projects: green roof, rain garden, and permeable pavement projects. Phased implementation will take advantage of existing plans for university projects, allowing for cost-effective improvements in campus stormwater management that will mitigate eutrophication and sedimentation in Frisco Lake.
Honorable Mentions:
- Runner Up, Small Institution: California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
- Runner Up, Large Institution: Kansas State University
- Creative Video: The University of Texas at Arlington
- Innovative Technology: Columbia University
