Virtual Green Infrastructure Tour
2020 green infrastructure tour UNL East Campus stop
University Communications University of Nebraska
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01/15/2021
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Tour the Veterinary Diagnostic Center and University of Nebraska-Lincoln East Campus Parking Lot Post-construction stormwater controls with the University of Nebraska Extension office. Listen to the architects, engineers, maintenance, and environmental groups who designed the features discuss them in detail.
University of Nebraska Extension Green Infrastructure Tour visit at Veterinary Diagnostic Center and East Campus Parking Lot.
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- [00:00:00.000](upbeat music)
- [00:00:11.640]I'm Tom Franti with UNL Extension.
- [00:00:15.408]I'm here on UNL is East Campus to look
- [00:00:19.250]at two green infrastructure sites.
- [00:00:21.414]Today we'll visit with UNL MS4 coordinator,
- [00:00:25.568]with landscape architects, and with the design engineers
- [00:00:29.110]who worked on these projects.
- [00:00:30.444]We're here at UNL Veterinary Diagnostic Center to talk
- [00:00:36.330]about the bioretention cell and detention cell here
- [00:00:39.560]they use to manage their stormwater runoff.
- [00:00:42.510]We'll talk with Patrick Boulas, UNL's MS4 program coordinator,
- [00:00:47.230]and with UNL landscape architect,
- [00:00:49.300]Emily Deeker. We'll also visit
- [00:00:51.520]with Carrie Thompson, the landscape architect
- [00:00:54.119]and Gary Norton, the civil engineer, who did the design.
- [00:00:58.485]Patrick, would you tell us how this system fits
- [00:01:01.700]in with UNL MS4 program?
- [00:01:04.400]Absolutely! So the bioretention basin was installed
- [00:01:09.559]as part of the requirement
- [00:01:13.156]for UNL to treat the first half-inch of stormwater.
- [00:01:18.867]So when they put this bioretention basin in,
- [00:01:22.900]basically it is going to capture the majority
- [00:01:27.130]of the stormwater discharge from the new VDC building
- [00:01:30.946]and then treat it before it discharges into Dead Man's Run.
- [00:01:34.930]So the location
- [00:01:35.980]of the bioretention basin is
- [00:01:38.818]to the northwest of the building
- [00:01:40.685]which is actually the same direction as the watershed.
- [00:01:44.188]So the natural flow
- [00:01:46.082]for the watershed is in the same direction.
- [00:01:49.262]Emily, would you give us an overview
- [00:01:51.590]of how this system works,
- [00:01:53.100]especially related to this aesthetic of plant selection?
- [00:01:57.230]Sure, sure. I can do that.
- [00:01:58.740]This is a kind of a little bit more complicated system
- [00:02:01.220]than we've done on campus.
- [00:02:02.398]It starts way back at the end of the building plaza
- [00:02:07.451]on the south side, and there's kind of a waterway
- [00:02:10.586]and kind of channel system that takes water
- [00:02:13.280]from the surface and moves it across this way.
- [00:02:16.220]And it's a very structured landscape,
- [00:02:17.714]but a very structured kind of system on that side.
- [00:02:20.446]And then once we get across the parking lot
- [00:02:22.700]it starts to deconstruct a little bit
- [00:02:24.440]and it becomes these kind of bioretention swales.
- [00:02:27.704]And then we have the water coming
- [00:02:30.210]into it because one that eventually it gets
- [00:02:32.190]into the more naturalistic bioretention area.
- [00:02:35.238]Cary tell us how this design fits
- [00:02:38.420]that treatment train model
- [00:02:40.882]from the rooftop and the downspout here
- [00:02:44.250]exiting the building going along this runnel.
- [00:02:47.886]And then this runnel was above grade, mainly due
- [00:02:50.860]to the utilities that run underneath this to the building.
- [00:02:54.507]So it actually serves a functional purpose too.
- [00:02:56.935]And that eventually exits down
- [00:02:59.560]into this kind of artful treatment
- [00:03:03.140]of the water dropping down into the runnel.
- [00:03:07.790]That's kind of down below here next to the plaza.
- [00:03:11.720]So if people are working in the offices here when it's raining
- [00:03:15.690]they can actually see how the water moves from the building
- [00:03:18.898]through the site and into the landscape.
- [00:03:22.150]Further on down the runnel system
- [00:03:23.860]there are openings that open out into the landscape.
- [00:03:26.475]So actually this landscape up here actually serves
- [00:03:31.740]as a little bit of stormwater infiltration up here.
- [00:03:35.050]And then eventually that drain goes down into
- [00:03:38.550]and across the parking lot over to the bioretention cell.
- [00:03:43.332]So some of the key features we have:
- [00:03:45.434]We have the weir structure that really slows down
- [00:03:49.210]the stormwater before it gets into the basin.
- [00:03:51.355]The main piece
- [00:03:52.823]of the bioretention basin would be the amended soil
- [00:03:55.987]and then also (indistinct)
- [00:03:58.190]below the amended soil.
- [00:03:59.520]We have an aggregate layer with an under-drain
- [00:04:02.769]and that really slows down the water. That amended soil
- [00:04:06.477]with the vegetation allows the stormwater to be treated.
- [00:04:11.063]There are two forebays at the entrance
- [00:04:14.700]of the bioretention basin on either side.
- [00:04:17.169]This project has been in place for a few years now.
- [00:04:20.197]Would you tell us how it got started?
- [00:04:22.055]Sure. Thanks Tom.
- [00:04:23.793]We started on this project through an RFP
- [00:04:27.813]for the expansion of the Vet Diagnostic Laboratory
- [00:04:31.773]and really the whole emphasis
- [00:04:35.700]of the design was really connecting the site
- [00:04:38.290]with the building into the treatment train.
- [00:04:41.870]And then eventually down
- [00:04:43.010]to the bioretention garden that you see here behind us.
- [00:04:46.830]We also wanted to use this
- [00:04:48.229]as a teaching garden for UNL East Campus
- [00:04:51.393]horticulture and landscape design classes on site.
- [00:04:55.790]So we worked with Kim Todd and Richard Sutton. At the time,
- [00:04:59.425]we picked plants that they thought
- [00:05:02.190]would work well and give a little bit of diversity
- [00:05:05.440]so when they're taking students around the campus
- [00:05:08.441]they have some different plants that they could show
- [00:05:11.540]and plants that thrive in this type of environment too.
- [00:05:15.433]I see that there's a series of cascading weirs
- [00:05:19.125]at the upper end of this system here
- [00:05:20.864]and ponding water behind those weirs.
- [00:05:23.730]Is that something you intentionally put into the design?
- [00:05:26.560]Yes, we did.
- [00:05:28.260]So you'll see behind me, some
- [00:05:30.940]of the stormwater exits the parking lot into the
- [00:05:36.750]bioretention and where the weirs are.
- [00:05:39.135]And so that water actually ponds
- [00:05:41.400]up behind it and it typically dries out.
- [00:05:44.730]We've had rain for the last three days now,
- [00:05:46.780]so you see a little bit more water than usual. Again
- [00:05:49.000]as a feature of tying the building architecture
- [00:05:53.110]into the site, these weirs are an extension
- [00:05:56.770]of the lines off the building and get users,
- [00:06:01.890]and hopefully students. out into the bioretention area
- [00:06:05.830]and engage with the bioretention garden.
- [00:06:10.727]But you could see a lot
- [00:06:13.200]of the plants that like water thriving in here,
- [00:06:15.680]like the Joe Pye Weed
- [00:06:17.035]and the Liatris and the Prairie Dropseed.
- [00:06:20.647]How has the planting gone?
- [00:06:22.410]Were all your plants successful early on?
- [00:06:24.570]Did you have to come back
- [00:06:25.530]and do some replanting or some maintenance?
- [00:06:27.820]Most of our plantings did well
- [00:06:30.130]as you could see the Joe Pye Weed did well.
- [00:06:33.090]The Rudbeckia, you could see a struggle a little bit
- [00:06:37.873]but hasn't done too bad.
- [00:06:40.180]Of course the Liatris is doing well in this area
- [00:06:44.000]and the Prairie Dropseed you can see behind. All
- [00:06:48.030]plantings did pretty well out here,
- [00:06:49.690]those we originally used and designed with.
- [00:06:52.792]From a design standpoint,
- [00:06:54.534]was this designed for a certain rainfall depth
- [00:06:57.180]or a certain water quality volume storm?
- [00:06:59.581]Yeah.
- [00:07:01.310]At the time that this product was designed
- [00:07:02.898]Lincoln had not yet adopted any
- [00:07:05.160]of their current post-construction stormwater requirements.
- [00:07:08.800]And so working with UNL staff,
- [00:07:12.635]they allowed us to utilize the city of Omaha's standards
- [00:07:16.440]because those had been in place for several years.
- [00:07:19.200]And so we utilize those until we at a minimum
- [00:07:23.670]had to meet the 2, 10 and 100
- [00:07:26.336]pre-developed runoff flows.
- [00:07:28.813]And then we also had to treat a one-half inch
- [00:07:32.341]off of the entire disturbed area of the project.
- [00:07:36.300]So Gary, would you tell us about some of the
- [00:07:38.600]special features of this project
- [00:07:40.137]that help with water quality?
- [00:07:42.260]Sure, overall, the bioretention basin
- [00:07:44.975]has an under-drain in it,
- [00:07:47.780]which is amended soils that is over a perforated pipe.
- [00:07:51.856]So that's the main filtration system.
- [00:07:54.860]However, some of the things we built
- [00:07:55.949]into this or designed into it are two forebays.
- [00:07:58.989]And the purpose of those forebays is to provide
- [00:08:01.530]some additional water quality aspect to the pond
- [00:08:05.560]to get some of the larger sands and salts
- [00:08:07.860]and stuff out of it before it gets into the main chamber.
- [00:08:10.490]And this also helps in maintenance for UNL. They can clean
- [00:08:13.960]out the smaller forebays versus the whole system.
- [00:08:16.944]And then just the size of the pond gets the contact time
- [00:08:21.120]and the settling time to get some of the
- [00:08:23.250]the solids to settle out of the water.
- [00:08:25.178]And then the plants themselves also serve as a
- [00:08:28.908]a major factor in the filtering of the stormwater.
- [00:08:32.603]It seems to me the size of this detention pond is much
- [00:08:36.800]bigger than it needs to be for the parking lot
- [00:08:38.909]around this building.
- [00:08:40.300]Is that part of an expansion
- [00:08:42.420]in the future, or why is the detention part so large?
- [00:08:45.073]Earlier in the design UNL Facilities informed us
- [00:08:47.933]that the main storm sewer line that runs
- [00:08:49.481]through here is also above
- [00:08:52.399]or at capacity on surcharges many times.
- [00:08:54.726]And so what we did is we tried to
- [00:08:56.653]size this basin to catch as much
- [00:08:59.611]as we reasonably could to prevent that water
- [00:09:02.460]from getting into that pipe and further distress it.
- [00:09:05.440]They over-engineered that capacity.
- [00:09:07.424]So it allows, it kind of opens up, the ability for us to look
- [00:09:12.275]at future development in this area.
- [00:09:14.274]And then also know that we have some capacity in this basin
- [00:09:18.693]so that we can use some of the storage volume
- [00:09:22.460]that's left over.
- [00:09:23.340]Systems like this have to be
- [00:09:25.140]at the bottom end of the construction site.
- [00:09:27.280]And that is always a challenge on a project,
- [00:09:29.328]to sequence the work so that it's economical
- [00:09:33.070]for the contractor, but also accounts for
- [00:09:36.890]keeping that silt out of that under-drain until, you know
- [00:09:40.532]plants are stabilized, the upstream areas are stabilized
- [00:09:42.800]so that under-drain can function as it's intended.
- [00:09:45.890]Is there anything else that you'd like to add
- [00:09:47.430]about the project?
- [00:09:48.408]I think this is just a unique project
- [00:09:51.470]for us because it was more complicated.
- [00:09:53.801]And we are thinking about all the way from the top
- [00:09:57.430]of a drainage system all the way to the bottom.
- [00:10:00.538]I think that's just unique
- [00:10:02.980]to other things that we've done on campus.
- [00:10:05.930]From here, we'll move over to the East Campus,
- [00:10:09.330]green parking lot
- [00:10:10.163]and again talk with Patrick and Emily,
- [00:10:13.438]as well as Tyler Paulson, the civil engineer who worked
- [00:10:17.200]on the design of that parking lot.
- [00:10:19.673]Emily, would you tell us a little bit of the background
- [00:10:22.920]of how this project got started here on East Campus?
- [00:10:25.119]Sure. This is a great project that exemplifies how
- [00:10:29.366]a master plan is really just a guiding document
- [00:10:32.780]to development and can be something that changes
- [00:10:36.010]as you move through development on a campus.
- [00:10:38.839]When we started to look at this space
- [00:10:40.820]which was tennis courts at the time, we really
- [00:10:44.090]wanted to still embrace that aspect of the master plan
- [00:10:47.210]that this was supposed to be a green area or a green space
- [00:10:50.210]and a connector between other green spaces on campus.
- [00:10:52.963]So as we were planning
- [00:10:56.110]we talked about it being a green parking lot,
- [00:10:58.550]if you want to call it that,
- [00:11:00.080]and how could we elevate this parking lot
- [00:11:02.560]as one of our first green infrastructure parking lots?
- [00:11:05.700]So the idea behind it all was to have the tennis courts
- [00:11:08.250]get removed and then install a parking lot
- [00:11:11.313]to serve the students out on campus?
- [00:11:13.310]But what we developed was kind of a system that captures
- [00:11:16.330]that first half-inch and actually exceeds
- [00:11:18.300]that half-inch as well
- [00:11:19.410]as providing a south-basin and that we developed
- [00:11:21.413]that captures, even offsite, a stormwater that discharges.
- [00:11:25.837]There's three unique bioretention basin
- [00:11:29.630]stormwater structures.
- [00:11:30.936]There are the more kind of
- [00:11:34.080]like bioretention basins in the parking lot.
- [00:11:37.280]There's three of those.
- [00:11:38.540]Those all have under-drains and the amended soils.
- [00:11:41.280]And then we're actually standing
- [00:11:42.930]in the bioretention basin
- [00:11:45.530]that's kind of to the northeast
- [00:11:47.950]of the parking lot where a lot of the parking lot drains to.
- [00:11:51.410]we have the third bioretention basin,
- [00:11:53.810]which is to the south of us.
- [00:11:55.840]And that actually collects rainwater
- [00:11:57.417]from the Dental College parking lot.
- [00:12:00.207]So essentially when it rains water will sheet-flow
- [00:12:05.456]off of the parking lot
- [00:12:07.436]and it's directed
- [00:12:09.190]towards these channels that will drop into a forebay.
- [00:12:15.110]And these forebays are lined with permeable pavers.
- [00:12:18.243]And then the permeable pavers will kind of filter
- [00:12:21.920]out some of the larger sediment.
- [00:12:23.575]Beneath the permeable pavers are an aggregate layer that,
- [00:12:27.420]after percolating through the aggregate layer,
- [00:12:30.399]will go into a drain tile.
- [00:12:32.230]Once the stormwater goes through the drain tile
- [00:12:35.697]it gets discharged to the storm sewer offsite.
- [00:12:38.733]So it's a specifically engineered
- [00:12:41.410]medium that we kind of identified in our specs.
- [00:12:43.146]It's kind of a sand and soil mix.
- [00:12:45.852]On the pipe itself is a kind of a perforated four-inch pipe.
- [00:12:50.040]Discharge is off site.
- [00:12:50.876]A couple other features
- [00:12:53.130]for this parking lot is we have a flume
- [00:12:54.908]to the northeast of us that will direct stormwater
- [00:12:59.299]to the bottom retention basin and discharges
- [00:13:01.887]into this forebay where there's permeable pavement
- [00:13:05.980]on the bottom
- [00:13:07.260]if it overtops into the riprap
- [00:13:09.810]which will continue to treat the large sediment and
- [00:13:12.243]slow down the velocity of the stormwater
- [00:13:14.460]as it enters the bioretention basin project.
- [00:13:16.929]Every project has its challenges.
- [00:13:19.640]What are some things that really made you tear your hair
- [00:13:21.860]out on this one?
- [00:13:23.047]One of the real challenges we had was about halfway
- [00:13:27.140]through the design.
- [00:13:27.973]We decided to incorporate a south basin
- [00:13:29.854]that captured existing Dental College parking runoff.
- [00:13:33.282]And the significant challenge
- [00:13:35.450]of that was just south of this parking lot
- [00:13:37.240]there's an existing duct bank as well
- [00:13:38.525]as existing other utilities that were there only
- [00:13:41.900]three to four feet down,
- [00:13:42.940]right where our basin was going.
- [00:13:44.440]So we had to work around a series of challenges
- [00:13:46.560]and how are we gonna get our storm sewer piping
- [00:13:48.822]in that area without impacting the existing duct bank
- [00:13:52.025]and existing other utilities.
- [00:13:53.428]Basically all the runoff
- [00:13:54.970]from the Dental College comes into the space
- [00:13:56.990]and percolates through that base into that soil medium.
- [00:13:59.311]There's an under-drain pipe that runs kind of
- [00:14:02.340]along that center at that low point, and then discharges
- [00:14:05.020]to the west and the north past our new parking lot
- [00:14:09.097]and just keeps running more offsite.
- [00:14:11.077]Any overflow is captured
- [00:14:12.949]into that whole flow structure that we kind of developed
- [00:14:16.153]from this northwest corner, but the majority
- [00:14:20.030]of our random events would get captured by this forefay
- [00:14:22.180]and then into the basin and then off site.
- [00:14:26.121]I understand there was student involvement.
- [00:14:28.500]Could you explain that too?
- [00:14:29.810]Yes, absolutely.
- [00:14:30.643]So something that we're always looking forward
- [00:14:32.185]to doing is how do we engage our students
- [00:14:34.800]and experimental learning.
- [00:14:36.160]And this is an opportunity that we use all the time
- [00:14:38.130]on East Campus
- [00:14:38.963]with our Landscape Design and Horticulture and Agronomy.
- [00:14:41.577]I approached Kim Todd and her Landscape Design class
- [00:14:45.640]and asked if she wanted to use this as a project in her class.
- [00:14:48.120]And she did so, so she gave it as a project.
- [00:14:50.169]It was already designed from where all the lines for the curbs were.
- [00:14:54.957]So it was really just a planting project for them,
- [00:14:57.313]a planting design project.
- [00:14:58.753]And they gave us probably about 10 different plans.
- [00:15:02.261]And then after the project was done,
- [00:15:04.520]after their class was over,
- [00:15:05.489]we still needed a planting plan for this.
- [00:15:07.241]So Kim actually took the time and kind of coalesced all
- [00:15:11.420]of the student work together and gave me a planting plan.
- [00:15:15.057]And a lot of these, also some of the plants, are
- [00:15:18.520]plants that she wants to teach from for her plant ID classes.
- [00:15:22.030]So we were able to get quite a few
- [00:15:23.320]of the plant materials that she asked.
- [00:15:25.110]One of the ones behind us over here is the
- [00:15:27.560]Sugar Shack Button Bush.
- [00:15:30.050]That was a new cultivar
- [00:15:32.210]of the Button Bush that she wanted to teach.
- [00:15:34.289]So Henry's Garnet Sweetspire is in this planting plan -
- [00:15:37.369]red fall color, white blooms, just a great plant.
- [00:15:41.225]Also really loving the common rush.
- [00:15:45.010]It's just really performed well for us
- [00:15:46.870]and has been a really neat, interesting plant with texture.
- [00:15:49.600]And then this Raydon's Favorite Aster
- [00:15:51.945]that we used in the islands,
- [00:15:54.005]which just has really performed really well for us.
- [00:15:57.629]It was one of the plants that the students wanted to use
- [00:16:02.760]and Kim wanted to teach from,
- [00:16:04.630]so it's a double whammy.
- [00:16:08.062]These two green infrastructure projects are great examples
- [00:16:12.097]of how the university is embracing green infrastructure
- [00:16:15.729]in their design.
- [00:16:16.989]Thanks for stopping by.
- [00:16:18.505]We really enjoyed being able to show you the two
- [00:16:21.009]stormwater features that we have.
- [00:16:22.765]We have plenty more stormwater features
- [00:16:24.517]on City and East Campus.
- [00:16:26.109]Hopefully here in the next couple of months
- [00:16:28.190]we're gonna have a Story Map on our EHS website
- [00:16:30.120]where we can show you where each one
- [00:16:32.620]of these locations is and you can plan a visit.
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- Tags:
- sustainable parking
- green parking
- clean water
- UNL East Campus
- sustainable
- environment
- bioretention
- wiers
- rain garden
- stormwater
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