Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 53.15
Liaison Paul Scanlon
Submission Date Feb. 29, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Slippery Rock University
OP-27: Rainwater Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Paul Scanlon
Special Assistant to the President
President's Office/Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution use Low Impact Development (LID) practices as a matter of policy or standard practice to reduce rainwater/stormwater runoff volume and improve outgoing water quality for new construction, major renovation, and other projects?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s Low Impact Development (LID) practices:

SRU has to follow NPDES permitting requirements during new construction. All renovations and new building design/construction since April 2011 have been required to meet LEED standards, providing opportunities at the building level to further reduce stormwater runoff and improve outgoing water quality.


Has the institution adopted a rainwater/stormwater management policy, plan, or strategies that mitigate the rainwater runoff impacts of ongoing campus operations through the use of green infrastructure? :
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s rainwater/stormwater management policy, plan, and/or strategies for ongoing campus operations:

SRU employs a series of interconnected lakes/holding ponds throughout the entire campus to control storm water runoff. The Campus Sustainable Features Map identifying locations and describing the function of various rainwater management initiatives can be downloaded from the SRU Sustainability web page www.sru.edu/sustainability.

Bioswales, rain gardens, pervious parking lot paving and a green roof are also used at the Smith Student Center site to retain rainwater and minimize the amount of runoff water and contaminants from the East Parking Lot from being admitted to the storm sewer system.

Three other green roofs have also been installed on campus – at the Dinger Special Education Building, the Macoskey Center Springhouse outbuilding, and a bus shelter roof near the Strain Behavioral Sciences Building.


A brief description of any rainwater harvesting employed by the institution:

Rainwater is harvested at the Smith Student Center, where roof rainwater is collected and used to irrigate planting beds east of the building.

Rainwater is also harvested at the Macoskey Center barn and stored in an elevated tank, which is used to irrigate nearby organic community gardening areas. Actual rainwater harvested and stored/used is not metered, however.


Rainwater harvested directly and stored/used by the institution, performance year:
---

A brief description of any rainwater filtering systems employed by the institution to treat water prior to release:

The interconnected stormwater retention ponds throughout SRU's campus act as a natural rainwater filtering system. In addition, the West Parking Lot at the Smith Center includes bioswales, pervious pavement parking lot infrastructure, and three depressed bioretention rain gardens to retain and filter stormwater prior to its release into the storm sewer system.


A brief description of any living or vegetated roofs on campus:

The LEED-Silver Certified Robert Smith Student Center features a green roof, as does the Dinger Special Education building; together, these roofs total approximately 40,000 SF of green roof area.

The spring house and market garden storage facility at the Robert A. Macoskey Center include an additional 300 square feet of vegetated roof.

A small bus shelter at mid-campus was also constructed with 120 square feet of vegetated roof as a student Green Fund Grant project.


A brief description of any porous (i.e. permeable) paving employed by the institution:

The Robert Smith Student Center has porous asphalt paving in the West Parking Lot.


A brief description of any downspout disconnection employed by the institution:

NA


A brief description of any rain gardens on campus:

Bioswales, rain gardens, pervious parking lot paving and a green roof were installed in the West Parking Lot of the Smith Student Center to retain rainwater and minimize water and contaminants admitted to the storm sewer system. Water runoff from the stormwater bioswale and parking lot is directed to three depressed bioretention/rain gardens to control and filter runoff.


A brief description of any stormwater retention and/or detention ponds employed by the institution:

The SRU campus features a series of streams connecting large retention ponds that receive rainwater/stormwater runoff from the elevated wetlands areas of the Branchton Road Audubon Wildlife sanctuary at the North end of campus and extending southwest through the lower campus..


A brief description of any bioswales on campus (vegetated, compost or stone):

There is a large vegetated bioswale located between the University Union and the rear of the Aebersold Recreation Center.

Additionally, bioswales are utilized between the steep hill to the north of the West Parking Lot and the three rain gardens at the Robert Smith Student Center.


A brief description of any other rainwater management technologies or strategies employed by the institution:

NA


The website URL where information about the institution’s rainwater management initiatives, plan or policy is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The Campus Sustainable Features Map identifying locations and describing the function of various rainwater management initiatives can be downloaded from the SRU Sustainability web page www.sru.edu/sustainability.


The Campus Sustainable Features Map identifying locations and describing the function of various rainwater management initiatives can be downloaded from the SRU Sustainability web page www.sru.edu/sustainability.

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.