Sunday, March 9, 2008

Minor Clarification


Hi everyone. After instructor comment on my planning outline, I decided to narrow my focus from general stormwater retention on-site to the retention and recycling of stormwater. The scope of retention on-site is very broad in respect to numerous ways this can be acheived. Recycled stormwater is one of the measures used and actually provides self-sustainability to a building by which it can reuse water that falls on its site and use it for non-potable situations such as toilets, dishwashers, washing machines, or irrigation. The recent seminar at Stantec, during the Vancouver field trip, talked about recycled rainwater systems as being a major design component for buildings today. Green standards have been integrated into consultant offices all over Canada, and recycling rain has become very important to communities with water shortages.


This video shows the Construction of a Cistern.



RAIN BARREL BY AQUABARREL

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1 comment:

Travis Helm said...

Derek,
The Blog is looking wicked, Keep up the good work. I was just looking into your subject a little bit and found some things you dont have on your references that you might be interested in. Also they have a bunch of drawings that are always fun, hope it helps,
Travis

http://www.austinenergy.com/Energy%20Efficiency/Programs/Green%20Building/Sourcebook/stormwater.htm

http://www.melbournewater.com.au/content/library/wsud/conferences/melb_1999/stormwater_reuse_-_a_balanced_assessment.pdf

March 15, 2008 at 1:23 PM

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Planning Outline

EDDT 231
Applied Research Project Outline

Project:
Determining what measures can be taken to keep storm water retained on-site, how it can be recycled back into the building envelope and show how they apply to a specific building site.

Methods:
1.) State why storm water retention should be implemented. Naturalize the land again; help improve eco-system, healthier subdivisions.

2.) Talk about the meaning of retention for a building site. Problems a building site may have in conveying storm run-off. Significance of retention.

3.) Apply a design to a residential/commercial building site. Show the design and specifications of storm water retention recycling systems on elevation, floor plan, and building site drawings.

4.) Explain the change of design standards for municipalities. Over-capacity storm sewers, re-charging ground water, reducing amount of runoff into streams.

5.) Give a background on the measures used to help retention. Show statistics based on several projects throughout North America. Green roofs, roof rainwater storage units, rain gardens.

6.) Talk to engineers at work about their experience on design storm water retention systems for subdivisions and try to implement a design to a specific site.

7.) Read government reports on green roofs and their retention capabilities. Find effectiveness of cisterns, rain gardens. Look at comparison of roof storage tanks specs.

8.) Can alternate storm water management that is applied be effective, appealing, cost efficient? Cost/Benefit of retention based design vs. conventional storm sewers.

Special Problems:
1.) Environmental impacts of conventional storm sewers. Damage to streams and the habitat of wildlife depending on those streams is a major concern. Pollutants can enter the storm system with little or no treatment and into the streams.

2.) Cost of storm water retention systems. Does it cost more than conventional systems? Less? Do the benefits of a retention friendly system outweigh the cost? Should cost even be an issue?

3.) Are retention measures effective? Show statistics of several projects throughout North America using retention systems and prove how they work. Draw a comparison between conventional sewers and retention systems.

4.) Where in North America will recycled storm retention systems be beneficial? Coastal regions, with large amounts of rainfall. Can these systems work in semi-arid regions, like Kamloops?

5.) How often do materials used in recycling practices need replacing? Do they wear down easily/need maintenance?

6.) Which methods of retention recycling are more effective? Does it matter on a given design? Can these methods be combined for a given project?

7.) How is greywater treated back into the building? What can this water be used for? What chemicals are used to clean the water?

Also:
1.) What scale of size should retention systems be to? Should rooftop storage tanks, rain gardens, and green roofs all be used in a single building?

2.) Performance of roof storm water retention tanks. What ones work better and take up less square footage to be effective enough?

3.) Rain gardens and above ground cisterns can promote growth to mosquito larva increasing the risk of West Nile virus. What measures are taken to prevent hatching? Sprinklers, additives to water?

4.) How can storm water retention recycled systems be integrated with other green technologies? Create hydro-electric energy with storm run-off?

5.) Calculating storm run-off flow. Manning’s equation or computer modeling techniques used in engineering offices to find out how much run-off will enter sewers and streams. Compare conventional sewer run-off to a recycling system.

6.) Do land values increase with implementation of greener storm water retention technology? Quality of life of those living in the building increase?