Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 73.33
Liaison Maria Dahmus
Submission Date Nov. 30, 2023

STARS v2.2

University of St. Thomas
OP-22: Rainwater Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 2.00 Jim Brummer
Vice President for Facilities Management
Facilities Management
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Which of the following best describes the institution’s approach to rainwater management?:
Less comprehensive policies, plans or guidelines that incorporate green infrastructure

A brief description of the institution’s green infrastructure and LID practices:
The university's St. Paul campus is located within the Capital Region Watershed District. We work closely with the watershed district to ensure stormwater quality and quantity are managed on our campus. Stormwater pollution prevention plans are implemented on all major construction projects where soils are exposed. Storm retention systems are inspected and cleaned on a routine basis.

In total, the university has 6 underground stormwater management systems with the capacity to handle an estimated 147,700 cubic feet of stormwater at any given time. The newest one of these systems installed in 2023 with the construction of the Schoenecker Center has the capacity to store 31,000 cubic feet of stormwater for irrigation reuse.

In addition in 2020 St. Thomas added 23,000 square feet of vegetated roof space on campus including:
• 8,900 square feet of vegetated roof space on Tommie East Residence Hall
• 14,100 square feet of vegetated roof space over the Iversen Center for Faith

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 Capital Region Watershed District's low impact standards are implemented when a project exceeds 1-acre of land disturbance. According to the watershed district's rules,

"Stormwater management plans must comply with the following criteria:
...
(b) RUNOFF RATE -- Runoff rates for the proposed activity shall not exceed
existing runoff rates for the 2-year, 10-year, and 100-year critical storm events using Atlas 14 precipitation depths and storm distributions or as approved by the District. Runoff rates may be restricted to less than the existing rates when the capacity of downstream conveyance systems is limited.

(c) RUNOFF VOLUME -- Stormwater runoff shall be retained onsite in the
amount equivalent to 1.1 inches of runoff over the impervious surfaces of the development."

Source: http://www.capitolregionwd.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/CRWD-Final-Rules-and-Guidance.pdf

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s green infrastructure and LID practices is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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