NEWS
UW aims for better drainage
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Also by Giovanna Dimperio:
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by Giovanna Dimperio
Thursday, September 28, 2006
After experiencing particularly bad flooding damage in a rainstorm this July, the University of Wisconsin began launching a pilot project Wednesday to protect parking lots from future occurrences.
A team of workers dug a pit behind the Educational Sciences building on West Johnson Street yesterday afternoon and plan to fill it with "pervious" concrete this Friday. University officials hope the new concrete will allow water to seep through a recharging bed and be filtered through a three-tiered system to avoid build-up.
Currently, the UW campus uses a more traditional impervious concrete, which lets water collect on top of it and not return to the soil. This results in flooding and mixing with lawn chemicals, road salt and other environmental hazards before collecting in storm sewers.
"It wouldn't have stopped it, but it would have helped with the situation," said Chris Velie, a supervisor of small outdoor concrete projects for the UW Physical Plant.
Using the filtration that the new pervious concrete has will lead to a "cleaner environment," according to Velie.
"The water will be cleaned by our filters and stones underneath the concrete, but also by Mother Nature," he said.
Velie added pervious concrete is beneficial ecologically, but also strives to impede flooding around the area.
UW sophomore Hannah Longrie lived in the Camp Randall area this summer and said the new technology would have made things easier for her this July.
"My building had to be evacuated, and I had nowhere to go for a few weeks," she said.
Velie said he will be on hand when the pit is filled with pervious concrete Friday to demonstrate the concrete in action. Pervious concrete will allow a draining rate of one-half inch per hour, whereas impervious concrete does not drain at all.
The test lot will show researchers whether the concrete is effective before implementing it in common flooding areas.
Before Velie's demonstration Friday, the university will host a workshop on pervious concrete paving for professionals in the field.
