STORMWATER MANAGEMENT AND EROSION CONTROL ON SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY'S CAMPUS

The need for innovative and cost-efficient practices is vital when designing sustainable infrastructure to manage urbanized land-use. Slippery Rock University is aware of the necessity to mitigate environmental factors to ensure the long-term integrity of the campus infrastructure along with the natural and built environments. Campus stormwater management and erosion control features increasingly allow the campus to operate on an eco-friendly basis, which is particularly valuable, as there are multiple stakeholders to consider.

The SRU campus landscape presents a dominant ridge with steep flanks, which presents a challenge to control the natural effects that stormwater runoff has on the land. In response, SRU employs sustainable features, including bioswales, rain gardens, permeable pavement, parking lot infiltration medians, and green-rooves. Campus Facilities use these structures to delay runoff, reduce flow velocities, and retain soils. In addition, numerous retention ponds are currently receiving maintenance to rejuvenate their storage capacities and improve water quality. SRU makes these efforts to mitigate the impact of runoff on a developed landscape, to the benefit of ecosystems on campus and downstream. Progress on these many fronts will be reported.