Water Initiatives

UMD renovated Denton Quad to increase pedestrian safety, accessibility, and usable green-spaces within the Denton Community. The renovation also allowed the implementation of creative stormwater management solutions, including new paving and planting. Gravelpave, rain gardens and flow-through planters are a few examples of added features.

The building is surrounded on three sides by Bioretention cells with ecologically-minded plantings. Curb cuts in the planting beds on the east side of the building allow runoff to flow from impermeable paving to previous planting space. At the southeast corner of the building, you can find permeable paving and a Silva Cell, a planting area designed to provide structural support for paving above while also providing maximized area below for runoff capture and tree growth.

This garden provides a beautiful and relaxing space on the west side of campus. Designed to treat water received from Lot 1’s vegetated swale treatment train, the garden’s stormwater system features a flow splitter, pretreatment basin, and sand filter. Water runs off the parking area and is captured by the swale. The swale carries the water to a flow splitter that directs the runoff into the pretreatment basin. Finally, the water is sent to the sand filter where it filters through the soil profile. In heavy rain, water will continue down the swale to prevent flooding.

The stormwater management system in the Community Learning Garden includes terraces and a water reclamation and reuse system. Stormwater is absorbed by a swale at the eastern edge of the terraced gardens where a 2,600-gallon cistern stores the water. A solar-powered pump brings the reclaimed water to seven 50-gallon rain barrels that irrigate rows of raised planters. Two additional rain barrels sit at the top of the garden terrace, provide water to 2,100 square feet of planting area. The terrace system begins with a raised garden bed made from permeable pavers then continues down the natural grade.

The approximately 300 square foot garden receives water from paved surfaces to the north and east of the space. With renovations to the outside of the Armory in 2017, the rain garden continues to receive, treat, and sequester stormwater runoff. Plants like Viburnum, Elderflower, Joe Pye Weed, and Tussock sedge can be found in the garden. This Sustainability Grant-funded project was completed in 2015.

In 2016, the Golf Course parking lot was one of three facilities selected as part of a stormwater improvement project funded by a Chesapeake Bay Trust grant. Taking advantage of the existing grade, two rain gardens and one bioretention cell were placed on the 1.75 acre parking lot to capture previously untreated stormwater. The Golf Course is also a certified Audubon Society Cooperative Sanctuary, a protected wildlife space.

In the spring of 2008, Washington Quad underwent a dramatic transformation into a park-like setting. The first stormwater irrigation system on campus was added to the Quad as part of this transformation. A 10,000 gallon cistern receives stormwater from the roofs of the surrounding buildings. A computer-controlled system directs the captured water to a drip irrigation system for the plant beds nearby, eliminating the need to water during warm periods. The project also replaced approximately 30% of concrete and asphalt with hundreds of new foundation plants and shrubs. The Washington Quad is an outdoor area within the South Hill Community surrounded by Baltimore, Prince George’s, Harford, Frederick, Washington, and Howard residence halls.

In converting an impervious parking lot into a green building, surrounding the building with green space, and capturing all rainfall to the area in a large underground cistern, UMD reduced stormwater runoff at the Knight Hall building site by more than 27%. The stormwater system collects rainwater from roof drains, channels the water through a high capacity filter in the courtyard, and stores it in the underground cistern. Through a drip irrigation system, pumps send water as needed from the cistern for distribution on-site. In addition to reducing UMD’s use of potable water for irrigation, the quality of the stormwater runoff is also improved by filtering the water collected from the roof through the mechanical filtering provided by the capture system and the natural filtering provided by plants and other organisms in the soil.

In 2011, Campus Recreation Services earned a Sustainability Fund grant to implement a sphagnum moss swimming pool water treatment system for indoor pools. This patented innovation provides the campus with a natural solution, reducing disinfectant by-products that cause respiratory diseases. With the new water treatment system, Eppley Recreation Center became the first aquatic center in the country to use sphagnum, also known as peat, moss to filter biofilm and reduce bacteria. Within the first 6 months of implementation, the CRS has reduced its filtering process and found a 78% decrease in water consumption. This initiative saves almost 1 million gallons of water each year as well as a net annual savings of $4,500.

In 2020, a team of graduate engineering students created Hydraze, “an automatic system that seeks to foil “phantom flushing” on motion-controlled public toilets and save millions of dollars in wasted water. When a user unlocks the bathroom stall, a device on the door latch communicates via Bluetooth with the flushometer, the part attached to the toilet, to signal that it should flush.” The students are piloting the program in select UMD facilities and other local buildings.