Temple University
OP-27: Rainwater Management

The university has utilized a number of stormwater management features in its new construction and existing buildings, including: rainwater harvesting, rain gardens, underground cisterns, green roofs, a pervious pavement pilot and increased vegetative space.

Storm water management is required on all new campus projects. Temple has incorporated stormwater management strategies throughout its 2014 Landscape Master Plan, including the use of tree plantings, vegetative bumpouts, and pervious pavers.

The university has introduced grey water systems in the Montgomery Parking Garage, the first four floors of the Morgan Residence Hall and Pearson McGonigle renovation. The university uses stormwater harvesting for SERC.

The university has three green roofs on campus. At the 2002 Philadelphia Flower Show, Temple University Ambler Landscape Architecture and Horticulture students provided the inspiration for the current green roof research taking place at the Ambler campus. Three years later, Temple University Ambler unveiled a working green roof atop the new Intercollegiate Athletics Field House, built with the assistance of a $50,000 grant from PECO, an Exelon Company. Extensive green roof systems generally have planting media depths of less than one foot that support low-growing plants with a shallow root base. The PECO Green Roof is of the extensive variety, supporting colonies of carefully selected plants, all native to the region, in approximately six inches of a lightweight medium. The second green roof was located in the awnings of the Temple Towers Residence Hall. Small in size, this green roof allowed the university to test the material in an urban setting. In 2012, the university unveiled a third green roof on the new architecture building. The project encompasses over 9,000 square feet of roof space and is visible to students from the third and fourth floor interiors.

The College of Engineering conducted a porous pavement pilot outside of the Engineering building. The university also employed pervious pavers in the Montgomery Garage and SERC hardscaping.

The Ernesta Ballard Healing Garden — the culmination of three years of work of more than 70 students, Landscape Architecture and Horticulture faculty and campus Arboretum staff supported by campus administration and facilities management — includes a central labyrinth, a woodland glade, meadows, a hedgerow, two pathways, a pond, which has proven very attractive to birds and wildlife, a wooden bridge constructed from the wood of a black walnut tree that once stood on the site, three rain gardens, and a vegetated swale. In addition, the Wetland Garden behind Cottage Hall on Ambler campus includes the following sustainable elements: recycled-glass pavers, biological filtration of campus storm water runoff, a solar fountain and native plant communities. In May of 2014, the university partnered with PWD to install a rain garden near the football training facility on Diamond Street.

The Ernesta Ballard Healing Garden — the culmination of three years of work of more than 70 students, Landscape Architecture and Horticulture faculty and campus Arboretum staff supported by campus administration and facilities management — includes a central labyrinth, a woodland glade, meadows, a hedgerow, two pathways, a pond, which has proven very attractive to birds and wildlife, a wooden bridge constructed from the wood of a black walnut tree that once stood on the site, three rain gardens, and a vegetated swale.

The university utilizes underground cisterns to capture stormwater during major storm events. In some buildings, the water captured in the cisterns are used to flush plumbing fixtures. In other areas, the water collected in the cisterns is released into the sewer system after the major storm event.