Boise State University
OP-22: Rainwater Management

Boise State has a standard stormwater management plan for the MS4 permit (attached) but incorporates LID infrastructure into different campus projects and new construction as appropriate for each project. An example of the LID design elements incorporated into a new building is attached in the Optional Fields documents for the new Micron Center for Materials Research.

In addition, the university has implemented soil water censors to carefully manage watering systems to utilize rainwater as much as possible.

Examples of LID and green infrastructure include:
1. natural landscape: newly adopted landscape standards employ native and low water plants. All new landscaping on campus will adhere to these standards. You can see them already at Leatherman Peak, CVA, Materials Science, Boulder Hall.
2. minimizing effective imperviousness to create functional and appealing site drainage that treat stormwater as a resource rather than a waste product. All projects moving forward must maintain stormwater run-off on site.
bioretention facilities: Leatherman Peak
rain gardens - none
vegetated rooftops: Micron Business Building
rain barrels - none
permeable pavement: Alumni (parking lot), CVA (plazas), Materials Science (plaza), Lincoln Townhomes (Utility drive); Sawtooth Hall (fire lane); Campus School (pedestrian and fire lane corridor)
Eco-Turf: Mixture of clover and nascent grass that retains soil moisture and fixes nitrogen in the soil to reduce need for water and fertilizer.
Other: CVA (green lawn fire lane at Capitol)

To manage rainwater on campus, we incorporate permeable pavers into new construction to allow for better infiltration of the runoff rather than have it run directly to the river that borders campus. Permeable paving systems are porous, so they allow water to infiltrate the pavement and drain into the ground or sub-base rock underneath. The permeable pavers have open cells that are filled with gravel or grass and are designed to let water enter into their surfaces, get detained in the rock base, and absorb into the ground beneath. Paving systems that use hardscape surfaces (concrete, asphalt, or compacted gravel) will collect stormwater, causing it to pool or run off. Instead, permeable pavers have a porous surface that naturally mimics and recreates the way the ground reacts to rainwater. The rate at which the water drains into the surface depends on the specific type of permeable paving system used.

Included are new landscape guidelines as well as the Sustainable Design considerations for new Micron Center for Materials Research that represent the new building and infrastructure guidelines on campus. These guidelines are considered less comprehensive because they do not apply to all of campus but instead are focused on new building and infrastructure.