Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Pervious Concrete Filters for Sustainable Water Resource Management
EPA Grant Number: SU835727Title: Pervious Concrete Filters for Sustainable Water Resource Management
Investigators: Kulkarni, Tara , Arsenault, Alex , Judd, Andrew , Nelson, Douglas , Schmeckpeper, Edwin , Ells, Elizabeth , Keasbey, Jacob , Drew, Jennifer , Bateman, Patrick , Limberg, Susan
Institution: Norwich University
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Phase: I
Project Period: August 15, 2014 through August 14, 2015
Project Amount: $14,957
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2014) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Challenge Area - Sustainable and Healthy Communities , P3 Challenge Area - Safe and Sustainable Water Resources , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
The technical challenge of our proposal was to re-design pervious concrete; a common component of Low Impact Development (LID) infrastructure, to harvest and filter storm water runoff contaminated by organics, nutrients, and metals and convert it to meet drinking water quality standards. This project was conceived primarily as a solution to the challenge of global water sustainability. A changing climate has led to unpredictable storms and droughts. This design manages excessive storm water runoff by using the pervious concrete to prevent flooding caused by increased impermeable surfaces. The filter component of the pervious concrete treats contaminated storm water, affording a safe drinking water source for communities affected by water scarcity, which is a known cause of economic and social disadvantages in communities facing such problems.
A second objective was to use our project to increase student awareness on water conservation and pollution prevention to minimize resources spent in treatment of water supplies, both on campus as well as in the local community. Local girl scouts hosted by the University’s Society of Women Engineers (SWE) in fall 2014 were led through a series of water sustainability themed activities. Five service-learning projects in the same semester, addressed water issues in the Vermont community, and engaged several K-12 students in discussions on water and engineering. Eight multi-disciplinary students in the PI’s honors class on sustainability worked on water related projects on campus to spread the message of water use awareness and conservation.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
Filtration experimentation is currently underway. Filter media will have to be re-evaluated and reconfigured to ensure that they do not increase chemical concentrations in rainwater. The field site has been designed, and partially completed. Weather related delays have stalled the completion of the project. However, the installation will be completed by the end of the spring semester. This will be followed by monitoring, and sample analyses, which will continue through the end of the project period in August. Our outreach efforts engaged our campus students, local area girl scouts, and over 150 K-12 students, across three Vermont schools.
Conclusions:
Weather served to be the major detriment in effective and timely completion of project goals. With a view to complete construction before winter, the team focused on getting the field test site set up in the fall semester. This postponed the filter development and testing, which is currently underway. It is expected that more accurate results will be obtained over the months of June through August, after the system is completely installed. We will only be able to determine the efficacy of the system at that time.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 3 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
pervious concrete, LID, green infrastructure, low cost filtration, sustainable water resources, water conservation, environmental sustainability, pollution preventionRelevant Websites:
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.