Green Stormwater Infrastructure
Green Stormwater Infrastructure helps improve stormwater quality and decrease flooding by delaying peak flows and filtering pollutants. In addition to these benefits, they also can increase landscape aesthetics. Green Stormwater Infrastructure can be found throughout the Urbana-Champaign campus. These projects include green roofs, rain gardens/infiltration basins, detention ponds, rain barrels, permeable asphalt/concrete/pavers and underground retention basins.
Campus Green Stormwater Infrastructure highlights:
Yeh Student Center Green Roof
Business Instructional Facility Green Roof
Red Oak Rain Garden
Japan House and Arboretum Bicycle Parking Permeable Pavers
More to come!
Red Oak Rain Garden
The Red Oak Rain Garden (RORG) is a sustainable landscape that celebrates rain, invigorates the campus and community education experience, and promotes well-being. The RORG is a green space located between Allen Hall and the McKinley Health Center.
It was the first rain garden on the Urbana campus. Since it was established in 2006, RORG lost its effectiveness as an aesthetically beautiful feature which also provides flood protection, improves water quality, and promotes ecological health.
In the summer and fall of 2019, Eliana Brown, a water quality specialist with Illinois Extension and the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, led a renovation team that’s improving the area, with the help of F&S. Brent Lewis, campus landscape architect, provided design consultation, and Grounds, Concrete Finishers, Electricians and other laborers helped establish new concrete sidewalks, move rocks, and light poles, and reshape and prepare the ground for volunteers to plant new flowers, grasses, and shrubs.
“The Red Oak Rain Garden is a model for how our campus landscape can be beautiful and resilient while engaging student and community volunteers in service learning,” said Brown. “F&S has been a wonderful partner on this project – contributing years of construction expertise making things go successfully. We are pleased with the improvements and look forward to enjoying this exemplary rainwater amenity for years to come.”
In spring of 2020, the F&S Carpenter shop will install a boardwalk comprised of Osage Orange wood, which will be sustainably harvested by Allerton Park staff.
Follow progress and future news at RedOakRainGarden.org, and on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram all at @RainGardenUIUC.