The two teams decided on further steps toward planning for nitrogen monitoring and parking lot sustainability, some of which were based on organization and ease of approval by the iCAP Working Group.
Meeting topics included potential for the team to move forward with a water audit of campus buildings, ways that nitrogen runoff could be monitored, and incentives the Parking Department would have in following through with adding green infrastructure to parking projects.
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Each team shared ideas of the semester and came together to propose a few joint recommendations. Suggested logistics for a water audit were mentioned, as well as nitrate runoff data from the 1990s that would be used as benchmark levels for runoff reduction. Different possible measuring techniques regarding future progress in nitrate reduction were mentioned. Ideas for greener parking lots were introduced, including replanting of trees on Lot E14.
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The attached pdf shows the FY16 status update posters for iCAP objectives, shared by each SWATeam at the Campus Sustainability Celebration.”
Dr. Ximing Cai presented the attached presentation to the SWATeam members at the beginning of fall 2017.
The attending members of the meeting on October 4th made observations on which data on water and campus population needed clarification and/or updating. Boneyard Creek was confirmed as being impaired, through the connected Saline Branch Drainage Ditch, due to low aquatic life.
Topics of discussion included the planned water audit and parking lots that could be used for studies related to stormwater runoff. A student in the Sustainability minor planned to work with Rabin Bhattarai on the audit. The EPA Rainworks Project would have potential to redesign Parking Lot F4 because Burnsides Laboratory will be torn down.
The team reviewed projects from 2016-17 and discussed potential student projects to carry out the objectives to inventory landscape performance, investigate water quality impacts of stormwater runoff, and performing a water audit.
The charge letter was sent to FY18 SWATeam members, noting the SWATeams' responsibilities for the academic year.
As collegians head back to campus this fall it means campus water use will spike, so ISTC has released a video on a model program which dramatically cut water waste with a student-directed behavior change campaign. Loyola University Chicago implemented its “Gallons Saved and Shared” project with the help of a grant from ISTC’s Billion Gallon Challenge. Student interns and volunteers planned and executed fixture upgrades across much of the campus and designed a awareness/behavioral campaign with the expertise of psychology majors. In addition, Robyn Mallett, associate professor of psychology and her colleagues, were able to study the responses to produce scientific insights. A college campus is an ideal setting to build a culture of sustainability that can follow graduates throughout their lives. The experience of “Gallons Saved and Shared” is a model that can be considered to produce conservation results on other campuses, said Aaron N. Durnbaugh, Loyola’s director of sustainability.
The Water and Stormwater SWATeam recommendation to install a real-time water meter on the greywater pipes in the Business Instructional Facility has been approved by F&S leadership. This project will proceed with funding from the Student Sustainability Committee and F&S Utilities & Energy Services.
Water & Stormwater SWATeam and the Agriculture, Land Use, Food & Sequestration (ALUFS) SWATeam had a joint meeting to discuss shared objectives and project ideas.
Discussion of upcoming joint meeting with Agriculture, Land Use, Food and Sequestration (ALUF) SWAT. Development of ideas for student projects, including georeferenced inventory for F&S, analysis of green roofs and solar panels, and phoshorus monitoring of stormwater.
Updates and discussion of greywater meter, greywater design standards, cooling tower cycles of concentration, water use dashboard, and student outreach.
see file
see file
The University pays a stormwater utility fee to both the City of Urbana and the City of Champaign. The fee is based on total impervious area that drains into city-owned storm sewers. If stormwater drains into university-owned sewers then directly discharges to a receiving stream, there is no fee assessed.
There are credits and incentives that the university can apply toward the stormwater utility fee. By maintaining compliance with the university’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems (NPDES), the university receives a 5% credit from each city. Additionally, each city has their own Credit and Incentive Manual (attached) which provides an opportunity for the university to reduce their stormwater utility fee by reducing the impact of the runoff from their properties by methods such as installing sustainable storm water practices that allow stormwater to infiltrate into the ground. The manuals have specific guidelines on how to calculate the credits based on the particular stormwater practices that are employed.
