Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 68.81
Liaison Christa Rieck
Submission Date Jan. 4, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Houston
OP-23: Rainwater Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Which of the following best describes the institution’s approach to rainwater management?:
Comprehensive policies, plans or guidelines that require LID practices for all new projects

A brief description of the institution’s green infrastructure and LID practices:

The eco roof at the Burdette Keeland Jr. Design Exploration Center is one example of green infrastructure. The building features the only sloped, green roof in the city. The vegetated roof, which covers about 2,000 square feet on the south side of the building, is outfitted with a drip irrigation system to bring water to the seven beds. The water to each bed can be individually controlled.

The current campus master plan features 43% permeable ground space. Additional green spaces are planned to help mitigate a hot micro-climate, improve the quality of stormwater runoff, and improve groundwater recharge. The campus design guidelines discourage roof overflow drains and require all roof drains to run separately from all other storm water sources.


A copy of the institution’s rainwater management policy, plan, and/or guidelines:
A brief description of the institution’s rainwater management policy, plan, and/or guidelines that supports the responses above:

The University of Houston practices water-saving landscaping by appropriate plant selection, limiting turf in perimeter areas, efficient irrigation, and generous mulching. New sitework/landscaping require no net increase of storm water runoff and proactive storm water management.

All parking lots shall be designed to develop proper site drainage, directed at the disposal of all storm water accumulated on the site. Parking lots constructed on UH campuses and other facility sites which contain an area of 2,500 square feet or more; and which are located within 150 feet of an existing storm sewer or other drainage way, including an open channel or creek, should be designed to direct storm water runoff into such storm sewers or drainage ways. The parking lot should be graded and surfaced such that storm water runoff from the site is collected on the site by a parking lot drainage system and carried to the storm sewer system, and not allowed to discharge through the driveway entrances and exits onto the public way. Proposed finished elevations of the parking lot must be indicated on appropriate plans. The site drainage design must not restrict flows that could occur during a 100-year flood condition.

http://www.uh.edu/facilities-planning-construction/vendor-resources/owners-design-criteria/design-guidelines/CAMPUS%20DESIGN%20GUIDELINES%20AND%20STANDARDS%20JANUARY%202018.pdf


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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