Case Study By Don Eberly, Laura Drotleff and Liz Burlingame
Soil Science U
Engineered soil maximizes Georgia Tech campus building and grounds
niversities have long marketed their degree programs, athletic championships and selec- tive locations. But with the help of ad- vances in stormwater engineering, the
Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta has been able to add "green" credentials to its list of achieve- ments. An innovative stormwater management project at Georgia Tech has been making a strong case for sus- tainable investments. As well as diminishing the cam- pus' reliance on potable water to manage irrigation needs, the project serves as a real-world example about how water conservation methods can make a true difference. The university's push for more eco-friendly stan-
dards began in 2006, when the new Christopher W. Klaus Advanced Computing Building was slated for construction. Georgia Tech's goal was to develop a water reclamation system on the site that could collect and store irrigated water from the first flush, or 1.2 inches, of each rain event. Ecos Environmental Designs, a landscape architec-
ture and planning firm, saw an opportunity to embrace the university's challenge to preserve the site's native ecology and recreate pre-development hydrology. At the core of the mission, Ecos partnered with ERTH Products and Big River Industries to engineer a soil mix for better bioretention and less water runoff. Today, the system collects water for about three
weeks of irrigation — enough to sustain Georgia Tech's native landscaping through the typical south- eastern drought. The project was also pivotal in earning the facility a coveted LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. "It turned out to be a perfect fit," said Stephen Brooks, Ecos vice president. "We were able to achieve
All photos courtesy of Ecos Environmental Designs / Big River Industries 26 Landscape and Irrigation September 2011
The engineered soil mix allowed for good surface infiltration of stormwater, while not creating a continuously saturated soil which would be harmful to plant life.
www.landscapeirrigation.com
