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Projects Updates for Water and Stormwater SWATeam

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  1. Stormwater grad student sought

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam
    Reduce Nitrates from Agricultural Stormwater

    Hi sustainability friends,

    I have funding for a grad student to assist our stormwater efforts for the Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy. Specifically, I’m looking for someone to find and curate stormwater outreach products and identify gaps. No tuition waiver but pay is $25/hr.

     

    Do you know of anyone that you’d recommend?

     

    Thanks,

    Eliana

  2. Water007 SeeClickFix - Successful

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam
    Water and Stormwater Recommendations Summary
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)

    Dr. Mohamad Attalla, Executive Director at F&S, responded to Dr. Ximing Cai, iWG Chair, on August 27, 2019, stating, "We will schedule a meeting with the Land and Water SWATeam to discuss options for achieving the recommendation."

    For further information, please see Green Infrastructure.

    See the transmittal of Water007 SeeClickFix recommendation.

    See SWATeam Recommendation Water007 SeeClickFix here.

  3. Thank you to all FY19 SWATeams

    Associated Project(s): 
    Topical iCAP Teams
    Agriculture, Land Use, Food, and Sequestration (ALUFS) SWATeam
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam
    Transportation iCAP Team
    Energy Generation, Purchasing, & Distribution (eGen) SWATeam
    Energy Conservation and Building Standards (ECBS) SWATeam
    Zero Waste iCAP Team
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)

    Dear FY19 SWATeam members, As another academic year is about to begin, we want to first thank you for all of your help moving campus toward the goals outlined in the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP). Each of the six SWATeams worked on multiple recommendations last year, and after careful evaluation by the iCAP Working Group (iWG), several recommendations are under consideration now at the appropriate campus units. Additionally, several prior SWATeam recommendations are continuing to show progress, such as the Solar Farm 2.0 project, which is likely to be approved by the Board of Trustees this fall.

    Now, the iWG is gearing up for the drafting of the 2020 iCAP. Last year, we have received a lot of feedbacks from the SWATeams and the student body about the 2015 iCAP, our successes, and our areas for growth. After extensive consideration, we have reorganized the SWATeams as announced in the iSEE newsletter earlier this month. Soon we will be updating the email lists, so please do not be concerned if you are removed from a SWATeam email list and are planning to stay on the new team; all returning members will be added to the new SWATeam email lists, as they are created.

    If you have any questions, please let us know and we’ll be happy to discuss this further. We thank you for your time, your enthusiasm, and your continuous efforts!

    Sincerely,

    Ximing Cai and Morgan White

    iCAP Working Group, co-chairs

  4. Water006 Lot F23 Monitoring - Returned

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam
    Water and Stormwater Recommendations Summary
    Rainwater Management
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)

    Following the completion of iWG assessment for Water006 Lot F23 Monitoring, the recommendation was returned back to the Water SWATeam so that a proposal for funding this project may be submitted to the Student Sustainability Committee.

    See iWG assessment of Water006 Lot F23 Monitoring attached.

    See SWATeam Recommendation Water006 Lot F23 Monitoring here.

    Attached Files: 

  5. Water007 SeeClickFix - Submittal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam
    Water and Stormwater Recommendations Summary

    The WSW SWATeam submitted a recommendation to the iWG, stating: 

    "SeeClickFix is an application that is used by citizens of both Champaign and Urbana to report damaged or underperforming infrastructure to their local public works departments for repair. According to this application, 2498 issues were fixed all time in Champaign, and 27 have been resolved in Urbana. In similar fashion, the University has a few options to crowd-source data about infrastructure problems:

    1. Facilities and Services (F&S) can set up their own account as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign through the service to cut out the need to communicate directly with the two cities. This would most likely be the more costly option, but would be quick and require no third-party effort.
    2. F&S could collaborate with Champaign and Urbana to receive information about infrastructure problems that fall under the campus’ jurisdiction. This option would likely be cheaper than having a subscription, but cooperation with the cities would be pivotal.
    3. Through student-led projects, develop a campus-specific application and database. In this case, spatial data and data about the kind of problem can be incorporated with GIS and would be more readily available to the campus community. Water specific data could be used to determine the optimum locations for green stormwater infrastructure."

    See attached the SWATeam recommendation Water007 SeeClickFix complete with comments from WSW SWATeam members.

    An iCAP Working Group assessment of this recommendation began on June 7, 2019.

    Attached Files: 

  6. Water006 Lot F23 Monitoring - Submittal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam
    Water and Stormwater Recommendations Summary
    Rainwater Management

    The WSW SWATeam submitted a recommendation to the iWG, stating: 

    "The Water/Stormwater SWATTeam recommends that instrumentation to monitor the quality and quantity of runoff from parking lot F23 should be installed in the storm sewer carrying runoff from the lot. An instrumentation vault was installed at the southeast corner of the lot (where the storm sewer leaves the lot) several years ago, but no instrumentation installed. In order to demonstrate the impact of Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI), this instrumentation should be installed and operational for at least one year before GSI is installed on the lot to provide a baseline to compare the post -installation runoff quality and quantity. We suggest a pressure transducer to record continuous water level (providing the flow rate using a calibrated stage-flow rating), a water-quality multiprobe with sensors for: turbidity, nitrate, pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, specific conductivity, fluorescent dye (which will be used to develop the stage-flow rating). The location would also need a data logger to record the measurements, and auxiliary components such as power supply and shelter."

    See attached the SWATeam recommendation Water006 Lot F23 Monitoring complete with comments from WSW SWATeam members.

    An iCAP Working Group assessment of this recommendation began on June 7, 2019.

    Attached Files: 

  17. discussion items email

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam

    Hi Water and Stormwater SWATeam,

     

    I am incredibly sorry I can’t attend the first SWATeam meeting on Monday (I’ll be out of town that day).  I know you have several topics for your team to address this year, and I’m excited about the opportunities coming our way.  This email is to share a few agenda items that I would appreciate your help with, as time permits this fall.

    1. Eliana Brown, Brent Lewis, and I intend to request funding from the SSC, this fall, for a green infrastructure master plan for campus.  This would entail hiring a consultant to evaluate our existing green infrastructure and recommend locations for additional installations.  The recommendations would need to consider maintenance requirements, utility fee impacts, and the environmental benefits.  It would also include stakeholder engagement around campus for setting shared goals (such as the ability to use the GI installations as living labs).  We would appreciate your input and support during this process. 
    2. The iCAP goal for performing water audits has been discussed in your team, and I would like to help move this forward this year.  Is there a “lite version” of this concept that could be done with student volunteers?  Maybe your team could look at how other schools have reduced water consumption around campus.  If the audit is primarily related to research labs, then this should be brought into the discussions about an overarching Green Labs Program, which we have been discussing (via the ECBS SWATeam).  We hope to get a task force formed by spring semester to talk about how to incorporate sustainability more fully into the research labs around campus, without impeding the safety of our researchers.
    3. There are two recommendations from your team that were transmitted to the appropriate units last week.  The RainWorks F4 project recommendation was then forwarded from Lowa Milwambwe to the new Director of Parking, Marty Paulins.  Marty and I are planning a meeting about the SWATeams this coming week.  I wonder if your team would be willing to do the initial draft of the SSC application suggested by your SWATeam recommendation?  Please let me know on Monday, if you can help with this on Parking’s behalf.  The funding applications are due 9/24.
    4. Thank you for agreeing to talk with Art Binder about his suggestions.  If you believe a service like his should be pursued, please submit a formal recommendation.
    5. Do you have any suggestions for how to promote the results
    6. Finally, I am hoping to start getting regular (at least twice per year) Project Updates in the iCAP Portal for projects with the status “In Progress.”  Is it possible for your SWATeam to help with this effort?  I believe it would be a matter of looking at the iCAP Portal theme page (https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/themes/water), clicking expand all, and reviewing the information on each of the six “In Progress” projects.  If it doesn’t have a recent update, then someone on your team could reach out to the contact person and get an update to post. 

    Thank you so much for your help with all of this!  Having students, faculty, and staff working together to advance the iCAP has been a wonderful help, and I am eager to work with you this year.  Sorry again for being unable to attend on Monday.

     

    Thanks,

    Morgan

     

    ===============================

    Ms. Morgan White

    Associate Director of F&S, Sustainability

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    148B Physical Plant Service Building, MC-800

    1501 S. Oak, Champaign, IL 61820

    217-333-2668 mbwhite@illinois.edu

    http://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu

  18. note about measuring quality of water in campus watershed

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam
    Rainwater Management
    Reduce Nitrates from Agricultural Stormwater

    The SWATeam asked County Engineer, Jeff Blue, who owns the bridge running across the Embarras on Airport Road (1100N) just west of the intersection of Race Street (1350E), in the hopes of adding a monitoring station.  Mr. Blue replied, "That bridge is under the jurisdiction of Philo Township. I know he is doing some substantial work on the ditch on the north side of Airport Road this summer which leads to this bridge. I doubt if the township would object, but it would be best to wait until the work on the ditch is complete. Please let me know what type of monitoring device would be used and how it would be attached to the bridge. I should be your contact on this project, as we are the bridge inspectors on behalf on the township."

  19. SWATeam Appreciation Letter

    Associated Project(s): 
    Topical iCAP Teams
    Agriculture, Land Use, Food, and Sequestration (ALUFS) SWATeam
    Energy Conservation and Building Standards (ECBS) SWATeam
    Energy Generation, Purchasing, & Distribution (eGen) SWATeam
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam
    Zero Waste iCAP Team
    Transportation iCAP Team
    Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)

    See attached the Appreciation Letter sent to all SWATeams earlier this month.

    Attached Files: 

  20. Water004 GSI Standards Parking Lots recommendation - Submittal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam
    Water and Stormwater Recommendations Summary
    Rainwater Management
    Facility Standards

    The Water and Stormwater SWATeam submitted a recommendation to the iWG, stating, "The Facilities and Services Standards for Parking and for Stormwater Systems should be revised to include a greater emphasis on sustainable design Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) for stormwater management. This revision will align these standards with the newly adopted 2017 Campus Master Plan."

    See attached the SWATeam recommendation, Water004 GSI Standards Parking Lots, complete with comments from all the Water and Stormwater SWATeam members.

    Attached Files: 

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