Impact/Purpose:

America's development pedagogies, urban land use, and storm water management have significantly altered the hydrological and ecological health of its watersheds and streams.  While there exists a variety of stream restoration and storm water best management practices, they are often employed independently at individual sites and have yet to demonstrate scientific efficacy in restoring function of the entire watershed.  With increasing frequency of variable moisture conditions (like droughts) and stricter regulation of nutrient loads in surface waters (the recent promulgation of Total Maximum Daily Loads [TMDLs] in regional watersheds), the need for cohesive basin-wide management and restoration is significant to ensure regular supply of clean water for human consumption and recreation, and  the continued health of aquatic ecosystems. 

Description:

The proposal for the P3 contest is to initiate an ongoing learning laboratory initiative with a pilot demonstration project that will restore a section of stream and improve local storm water management.  The pilot project will lay a foundation for the basin-wide learning laboratory, where students from various disciplines can work with practicing professionals to develop stream restoration, wetland mitigation and storm water management measures that are a step beyond best management practices currently employed.  The students are not only able to develop their design, but as part of several service-learning courses are able to work to realize the design and actually participate in the construction of the designed solution around a portion of the identified basin approach.  The ongoing initiative will enable students to grow a replicable basin-wide strategy that collectively addresses an issue of sustainability by restoring the hydrological and ecological function of an urban watershed and stream system.

Record Details:

Record Type:PROJECT( ABSTRACT )

Start Date:08/15/2010

Completion Date:08/14/2011

Record ID: 248922

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Related Organizations:

Role :OWNER

Organization Name :DUKE UNIVERSITY

Mailing Address :103 Allen Bldg

Citation :Durham

State :NC

Zip Code :27708



Role :OWNER

Organization Name :ECOENGINEERING

Mailing Address :2905 Meridian Parkway

Citation :Durham

State :NC

Zip Code :27713

Project Information:

Approach :

In a collaborative effort between researchers, the facilities management staff, and an outside engineering firm, Duke is working to develop a basin wide management strategy which could be duplicated at other universities across the nation.  Instead of examining individual stream reaches, or a section of the campus, the approach being proposed for the P3 contest is to treat the entire watershed as an integrated system, with solutions being conceptualized on the basin scale to address the identified problems.

Cost :$10,000.00

Research Component :Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development

Approach :

In a collaborative effort between researchers, the facilities management staff, and an outside engineering firm, Duke is working to develop a basin wide management strategy which could be duplicated at other universities across the nation.  Instead of examining individual stream reaches, or a section of the campus, the approach being proposed for the P3 contest is to treat the entire watershed as an integrated system, with solutions being conceptualized on the basin scale to address the identified problems.

Cost :$10,000.00

Research Component :P3 Challenge Area - Water