|
Between 2007 and 2009, two projects were undertaken to address
stormwater management on Springside School’s campus, located on the
banks of the Wissahickon Creek in Northwest Philadelphia. The first is a
traffic circle rain garden that is planted with native vegetation. The
second BMP is an artistic solution to stormwater runoff from roof
downspouts, created by Stacy Levy, an environmental artist, who worked
with students to design where sudden increases in runoff volume and
velocity had begun negatively impacting the watershed.
The rain garden collects and filters runoff diverted from campus drains
and from the surrounding asphalt surface of the traffic circle.
Collected runoff infiltrates into the soil and waters the garden’s
native plants before it passes into the watershed’s groundwater supply.
As part of its master plan, Springside had built four recharge beds
buried under parking lots and fields to control excess runoff from roofs
and other impervious areas. These recharge beds, along with the rain
garden (designed by the Philadelphia Water Department), help control the
amount of excess water carrying debris and topsoil from the school’s
impervious surfaces into the Wissahickon Creek, which borders the
property. The combined efforts have directed excess water to where it
can best be used.
By implementing these BMPs in highly trafficked areas of the campus such
as the circle and parking lots, Springside sets an example of attractive
stormwater management and hopes to encourage those who visit to
reconsider their own approach to the issue. The plants selected were
suggested in consultation with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society;
they are native to Pennsylvania and able to survive both drought and
flood.
In addition to the infrastructure described above, the school has also
added environmental art in the form of The Springside Water Web, a
creative solution to the excess runoff from the expansive school roof.
The Web is a playful, sculptural downspout system that captures and
funnels rain water into specially designed wall drains, which then
disperse it into a courtyard rain garden below. Previously, this runoff
ran onto impervious surfaces, where it picked up pollutants and debris
before it ran into the Wissahickon Creek, often taking topsoil along
with it. The plants selected for both rain gardens were suggested in
consultation with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society; they are
native to Pennsylvania and able to survive both drought and flood.
Students will use the rain garden areas as places of research for
current and future environmental and hydrology science projects.
|
