Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 49.83
Liaison Sarah Temple
Submission Date Oct. 18, 2012
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.1

Louisiana State University
OP-23: Stormwater Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Denise Newell
Manager, Campus Sustainability
LSU Facility Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have a policy, plan, and/or strategies to reduce stormwater runoff from new development projects? :
Yes

Does the institution have a policy, plan, and/or strategies to reduce stormwater runoff from ongoing campus operations? :
Yes

A brief description of the institution's stormwater management initiatives:

The Louisiana State University Storm Water Management Program (SWMP) is being administered as delineated in the Management Plan. The University continues to take a proactive approach to surpass the minimum standards of the Storm Water Management Program.
The plan identifies the efforts and measures undertaken to address the six components as outlined in the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) permit. The six components include:
• Public Education and Outreach
• Public Participation and Involvement
• Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination
• Construction Site Storm Water Runoff Control
• Post-Construction Storm Water Management for New Development and Redevelopment
• Pollution Prevention and Good Housekeeping


The website URL where information about the institution's stormwater management initiatives, plan or policy is available:
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Does the institution have a living or vegetated roof?:
No

A brief description of the institution's living or vegetated roof:
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Does the institution have porous paving?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution's porous paving:

LSU has installed thousands of square feet annually of porous paving to help provide water to the sub-surface tree root zone to maintain live oak health.


Does the institution have retention ponds?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution's retention ponds:

Campus lake acts as a retention pond for stormwater prior to discharge to the municipal strom sewer system. It provides a trap for sediment, wetland filtration, and detention when the pond is at low levels.

The Enchanted Forest behind the Greek theatre is also a major dry detention pond on the north side of campus.


Does the institution have stone swales?:
No

A brief description of the institution's stone swales:
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Does the institution have vegetated swales?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution's vegetated swales:

LSU has planted iris along ditch banks to help with filtration. The ditch along Campus Federal is a good project example.


Does the institution employ any other technologies or strategies for stormwater management?:
Yes

A brief description of other technologies or strategies for stormwater management employed:

Greenspace:

LSU through deliberate planning efforts has designated green space with storm water conservation intentions as well as creating an aesthetic buffer zone. An example of this is the conversation of the old front nine golf course along Nicholson drive into an major campus parking lot. A high percentage of green space with a 300’ buffer zone along Nicholson Drive was included in the design as well as keeping most of the trees. The green space buffer zone serves as a surface water filtration and detention zone from the parking lot to the outfall swale.

The west side of campus has a major, grassed, porous overflow parking lot.

LSU has maintained a design directive to landscape parking areas, and greenspaces. All new parking lots must have a percentage of treed landscaping within the paving areas.

Erosion Control:

LSU Landscape Services has an year round major erosion control effort by using recycled hardwood mulch under the Live oak trees. This effort reduces soil erosion, promotes water absorption, tree heath and ultimately allows for continued shade for building facades, parking lots and pedestrians.

Maintenance:

LSU Landscape services provide daily inspection and maintenance to the campus drainage system. The campus users, tree root damage, and construction damage require daily site improvements projects to keep the drainage systems functioning. LSU is also installing strategic curbing along Highland Road at conflict areas to hold back the hard wood mulch and promote water absorption.

Campus planning works closely with maintenance to promote, design, and install cost effective storm water management solutions. We are designing and testing new ways to provide porous barriers to hold back vegetative material from entering the drainage system. Atrium grates are installed all over campus and have helped with this issue. Ground cover is also planted to help slow down and absorb runoff. We are replacing undersized inlets with adequate grates to help flush out the system.


Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.