Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 58.11
Liaison Elizabeth Drake
Submission Date April 19, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Swarthmore College
IN-15: Stormwater Modeling

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 0.50 Aurora Winslade
Director of Sustainability
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

A brief description of the institution’s stormwater modeling program and/or practices, including the methodologies and tools used:

Professor Arthur McGarity has a research interest in stormwater modeling that has been applied to the campus of Swarthmore College. The model is an extension to SWIMM and is called "StormWISE" (http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/9780784480632.026). This model informs placement of BMPs on Swarthmore's campus:

-In an effort to manage storm water runoff, Swarthmore has installed porous pavement, green roofs, rain gardens, infiltration beds, and underground infiltration systems that help to absorb rainwater before it runs off.
-Cisterns are used to capture storm water runoff so that it may be used for landscape irrigation.
-A biostream behind McCabe library helps to collect rainwater in a natural feature in the landscape.
-Four green roofs, totaling approximately 15,000 square feet, absorb rainwater while also providing natural habitat; a fifth green roof, a retrofit of the Lang Performing Arts Center roof, is planned.
-The College sponsored Crum Creek Monitoring Project monitors the overall health of the Crum Creek watershed in the area on and around the campus.


For which of the following percentile local or regional rainfall events does the institution retain runoff on-site using LID practices and green infrastructure? (95th, 90th, 85th, 80th, 75th, Other):
90th

The percentile local or regional rainfall event for which the institution retains runoff on-site using LID practices and green infrastructure (0-100):
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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