Agnes Scott College
OP-3: Water Use

Agnes Scott harvests rainwater on-site for storage and use. As part of a Summer 2022 project from the college’s Green Revolving Fund, the full retention pond was drained and dredged in order to create a greater capacity for rainwater/stormwater to be used for all campus landscaping irrigation needs. An initial study of the pond found a large amount of sediment with an overall amount of 1,598 cubic yards of soft sediment throughout. The average sediment depth was 3.1 feet with the deepest deposits extending to 6.3 feet. The conclusion of this study found that the pond was “in an impaired condition from a bathymetric standpoint, and needs to be dredged to restore the depth and volume”. However due to project timeline, the connection to the campus irrigation has been offline for the last year and is within the process of being finished and reconnected. Once this project is completed regular operations and commitments that Agnes Scott normally holds will resume - Agnes Scott committed to using no potable water for campus landscaping even before the sustainability movement on campus. We capture stormwater from the entire campus in a retention pond that is used for landscape watering, except in cases of extreme drought. This water is pumped from the pond and used throughout campus landscaping.

https://www.agnesscott.edu/center-for-sustainability/water.html 

The college has two sites that were created with the intention of water return through natural landscaping. The first system is a rain garden in the lower landscape architectural space of the college's newest constructed building, the Julia Thompson Smith Chapel, built in 2008. The chapel gardens serve as a collector and sink for campus rainwater. The second site is the Soil Regeneration Project, an interdisciplinary collaboration among students, faculty, staff, and local community members to apply hands-on learning to climate action. The site is located across from the Demonstration Garden in an area that faces heavy flooding and erosion. The goal of the project is to build soil health to mitigate erosion while engaging the community in the importance of soil health, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity. The area is managed by volunteers with support from the Center for Sustainability and the Science Center for Women. 

As part of the college’s Green Revolving Fund project calculations and approval form, the dredging of the retention pond used for irrigation is estimated to save 1,350,000 gallons of potable water use per year. These calculations are completed by the college’s part-time Green Revolving Fund Project Manager and can be seen in the monthly utility reports reviewed by the Energy Manager, Center for Sustainability staff and Facilities staff. 

As of FY24, Agnes Scott falls within two risk designations (High-Ocmulgee; Medium-High-Chattahoochee). The college campus sits on the Eastern Subcontinental Divide and therefore crosses two watersheds. Since the majority of the campus is at High Risk, we selected High Risk for the purpose of this report.