UF wins First Prize: EPA Campus Rainworks Challenge ,
In Spring 2013, a group of students, advised by Water Institute affiliate faculty member ,
Glenn Acomb from the Department of Landscape architecture, were awarded the Environmental Protection Agency's inaugural
Campus RainWorks Challenge prize for their design of a master plan for water movement throughout the 11-acre Reitz Student Union North Lawn and pedestrian areas. The Challenge is a student competition designed to develop innovative green infrastructure to handle stormwater and support sustainable communicates. The UF plan incorporates a number of green infrastructure design elements including: two stormwater collection pools, rain gardens and bioswales, a green wall, green roof, and campus garden. Modeling of the bioswale component of the design plan shows that the bioswales can manage a 1-year and 100-year storm without flooding. The UF team consisted of 12 students who highlighted the relationship between people and water by creating the "
journey of water" from UF campus catchment areas to Lake Alice, where a large portion of UF's stormwater sewers drain. The student team consisted of Emily Sturm (project manager), Hannah Plate, Jayne Branstrom, Tracy Wyman, Jabari Taylor, Gregory Ford, Brenda Lugano, and Joshua Evitt (Department of Landscape Architecture); Tracy Fanara (Environmental Engineering); Natalie Nelson, Angelica Engel, and Wesley Henson (Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering). In January 2013, the team presented the plan to University of Florida architects and facilities staff for consideration as a component of the university's "Reitz Redesign" efforts.
