Green Infrastructure for Stormwater Management: Toward a Model Campus by 2025
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Green Infrastructure for Stormwater Management: Toward a Model Campus by 2025 James A. LaGro, Urban and Regional Planning Matthew Ginder-Vogel, Civil and Environmental Engineering John A. Harrington, Landscape Architecture William J. Likos, Civil and Environmental Engineering Steven P. Loheide, Civil and Environmental Engineering Christina K. Remucal, Civil and Environmental Engineering Anna Rose Brown, Master’s Student, Urban and Regional Planning, Water Resource Management August 2014 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... 4 LIST of ACRONYMS ....................................................................................................... 5 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................... 7 1. Introduction: The Case for Green Infrastructure ..................................................... 9 1.1 Protecting Water Quality .................................................................................................. 9 Other Benefits of Green Infrastructure ................................................................................ 13 1.2 Definition of Key Terms .................................................................................................. 13 1.3 Green Infrastructure & the Campus Environment ....................................................... 14 2. University of Wisconsin Campus Context ............................................................. 17 2.1 Campus sustainability .................................................................................................... 17 2.2 Institutional context ........................................................................................................ 18 2.3 Development history of UW-Madison ........................................................................... 20 2.4 Campus planning and management at UW-Madison .................................................. 21 Campus Planning Stormwater Policy .................................................................................. 21 Campus Stormwater Management Plan ............................................................................. 22 2005 Campus Master Plan ................................................................................................. 22 Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit ................................................ 23 Campus design guidelines .................................................................................................. 24 3. Campus Stormwater Management Infrastructure ................................................. 24 3.1 Physical Analysis of the UW-Madison Campus ........................................................... 25 3.2 Storm Water Sampling and Analysis Methods ............................................................ 28 Sampling Locations and Methods ....................................................................................... 28 Water Quality Results ......................................................................................................... 28 3.3 Existing Green Infrastructure on Campus .................................................................... 29 Green Roofs ........................................................................................................................ 29 Bioretention ......................................................................................................................... 31 Porous Pavement ............................................................................................................... 33 4. Campus Planning and Policy Recommendations ................................................. 36 4.1 Design Opportunities ..................................................................................................... 36 Stormwater Trees ............................................................................................................... 37 Green Streets and Parking ................................................................................................. 40 Stormwater Educational Plaza ............................................................................................ 43 4.2 Benefits of Green Infrastructure .................................................................................... 45 Environmental ..................................................................................................................... 46 Community & health ............................................................................................................ 48 Economic ............................................................................................................................ 50 4.3 Policy Recommendations .............................................................................................. 51 5. References ................................................................................................................ 53 APPENDIX 1: WATER QUALITY RESULTS AND METHODS .................................... 58 APPENDIX 2: Full Benefits Section ............................................................................ 62 APPENDIX 3: INCORPORATING STORMWATER AWARENESS INTO DESIGN ..... 72 Acknowledgements Research for this report was funded by a 2013-2014 Sustainability in Research and Education (SIRE) grant from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Office of Sustainability. Special thanks to: Gary Brown – Director, Campus Planning and Landscape Architecture, University of Wisconsin-Madison. LIST of ACRONYMS SEP: Special Environmental Project LEED: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design NPDES: National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System CPTED: crime prevention through environmental design BMP: Best management practice MS4: Municipal Separate Stormwater Systems CSO: Combined sewer overflows CWA: Clean Water Act TSS: Total suspended solids BOD: Biological oxygen demand COD: Chemical oxygen demand PAH: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon PCB: Polychlorinated biphenyls DCIA: Directly connected impervious area EIA: Effective impervious area TMDL: Total maximum daily load FP&M: Facilities Planning and Management GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE FOR STORMWATER MANAGEMENT! 6! Executive Summary Green infrastructure is an urban design concept for protecting natural systems and processes and for reducing environmental impacts from the built environment through implementing management practices that “use or mimic natural processes to infiltrate, evapotranspirate, or reuse stormwater or runoff” (Rouse & Bunster-Ossa, 2013, p. 10). Green Infrastructure has become increasingly widespread since the EPA’s 2007 decision to allow its use in a number of regulatory compliance programs, and works with communities across the country, forging partnerships to develop best management practices, provide technical assistance, and to identify and overcome policy barriers. Interest in sustainable development – resulting, in part, from the EPA’s substantial work to improve information and increase implementation of these practices – has not only resulted in green infrastructure installations in cities such as Philadelphia, Portland, and Milwaukee, but also has begun to transform campus environments. The EPA has brought innovation in stormwater management directly to campuses through the Campus Rainworks Challenge, a design competition that encourages students to design green infrastructure solutions to manage stormwater and provide other environmental benefits on campus. This challenge highlights the role that campuses can play in design, innovation, and research, and in disseminating new concepts and technologies in stormwater management. Green infrastructure research and project implementation on campuses present learning opportunities for students and the public at large. While there is a great need for updated stormwater infrastructure in this country, there is substantial financial risk involved when municipalities employ unproven technology to address water quality issues (Kiparsky et al. 2013). This makes universities an invaluable “learning laboratory” for experimentation and implementation of these design practices and technologies. The University of Wisconsin-Madison campus could be at the cutting edge of developing, implementing, evaluating, and communicating new water sustainability solutions. Although our Capital Region has abundant water resources, our growing communities pose substantial challenges to the protection of water resources quality and quantity. The unique physical location of the University next to abundant fresh water resources makes this impact tangible to students and the campus community at large, and provides ample opportunities to engage directly in the solution. The nature and complexity of water resources management speaks directly to the role of a research institution in general and the Wisconsin Idea in particular. The University is in a unique position to leverage its intellectual capacity and creativity while presenting new opportunities for students to experience the cutting edge of a “greener” future. By leveraging the knowledge and enthusiasm of students and faculty alike – and creating interactive learning opportunities across campus through green infrastructure -- the university can play a prominent role in physically demonstrating innovative solutions to critical sustainable