Cincinnati State, MSD are going green in a big way

November 4, 2010

Officials at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College have signed agreements with the Metropolitan Sewer District that should keep more than 11 million gallons of storm water on campus annually during rainstorms and reduce the volume of runoff reaching the district’s combined sewers.

The agreements provide funding for the installation of sustainable, green storm water management features such as cisterns, rain gardens, infiltration trenches and pervious paving throughout Cincinnati State’s Clifton campus.

In addition to serving as a living laboratory for students, the controls will enable Cincinnati State to capture between 11.1 million and 12.9 million gallons of rainwater during a typical year – and re-use some of it for irrigation purposes during dry periods.

“From our perspective, this is a tremendous opportunity,’’ said Cincinnati State President Dr. O’dell M. Owens. “It gives our students a whole series of outdoor laboratories for our programs in horticultural and environmental engineering technologies. And we’re helping the community by taking water off the MSD grid.’’

In a letter to Cincinnati State officials, MSD executive director James “Tony’’ Parrott said the project has the potential to demonstrate the effectiveness of a complex network of green storm water controls in reducing the volume of runoff reaching MSD’s combined sewer system. “It should also assist MSD in the development of design criteria and identifying maintenance issues associated with these types of green controls,’’ he stated.

Cincinnati State, which recently launched majors in storm water management and in sustainable horticulture, is the first college in Greater Cincinnati to implement a green storm water management system with MSD.

One phase of the project is already underway. It involves the long-awaited Ludlow Avenue Gateway, the reconstruction of a large parking lot at the intersection of Central Parkway and Ludlow Avenue to allow Cincinnati State to make use of a dedicated traffic signal so that motorists can make a left turn off campus and arriving visitors can have improved access to the parking garages.

As part of that project, MSD is funding a series of sustainable green controls, including pervious paving and rain gardens, which have been incorporated into the design of the new parking lot. These will capture rainwater during wet weather events. Any water percolating through these features will be piped to an enhanced biodetention basin near the Cincinnati State greenhouse. MSD is providing about $450,000 for the green control portions of the project.

Cincinnati State is paying for paving, roadways and the like that are associated with the parking and traffic management aspects of the project. Its students and faculty will be involved in selecting and in some instances installing plant materials that will be incorporated into the storm water management aspects of the project.

Installation of the rest of the green storm water controls at Cincinnati State began November 1. That portion of the project, which will cost about $1.6 million, includes:

• The disconnection of roof drains that currently lead to storm water pipes and the combined sewer, and their connection to cisterns and other green control structures. Cistern water will be used for campus irrigation.
• The installation of pervious pavers in parking areas around the Main Building to collect rainwater and route it to numerous rain gardens and other planting areas.
• The construction of a series of bioinfiltration trenches on a portion of the hillside below the Main Building.

Mark Deacon, director of Cincinnati State’s horticulture program, said the project will allow students to introduce more than 50 species of woody and herbaceous plants to the Clifton campus, which already functions as a working arboretum.