UBC Agricultural Road Walkway Project – Week Two
Jan 26th, 2012 by irisfeng
On January 19, 2012, we first met our client, Dean Gregory. We had an introduction tour of the Agricultural Road Walkway led by our client, Dean Gregory. The renewal construction of Agricultural Road was finished by the end of 2011, using a sustainable design of irrigation and stormwater systems. The concept of bioswales was implemented to trap pollutants from the surface water. In addition, a redesign of the vegetation plan was implemented in order to maximize the use of stormwater.
After having the basic sustainable concept of the new Agricultural Road, we could clearly determine all the tasks of this project and assign each of our group members to implement the various sections under the Sustainable Sites Initiatives – Water section and combine the work into a completed document at the end.
On January 24, 2012, we had a group meeting focusing on creating a work schedule and project plan. Under the Sustainable Sites Initiative Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks, there are eight credits that are given for evaluation. According to the SSI, the Agricultural Road projects can only be evaluated under six of the eight criterion:
- The calculation of reduction on using potable water for irrigation by 50%. The Agricultural Road has to satisfy the criteria of at least 50% of reduction of using potable water to be evaluated as a sustainable site. (Ming)
- The calculation of reduction on using potable water for irrigation by 75%. (Ming)
- The analysis of the management of stormwater on the site. We will use TR55 software to simulate the water ecosystem and check whether the water storage capacity is improved to a sustainable level by the new design of the road. (Ron)
- The analysis on protection and enhancement of water resources and water quality, involving the construction material, site maintenance plan and stormwater treatment. A calculation about the percentage of pollutants is prevented to get into the receiving water flow is needed for the credits of sustainability. (Salman)
- The analysis on the features of new water system. By looking at the design of the site, we need to evaluate the integration of the path of the water system according to its physically and aesthetically. (Terence)
- The analysis about maintaining water features to conserve water and other resources, calculating the amount of potable water is used additionally for the irrigation and water system. (Jeremy)
Credits will be given from each part based on the comparison of the criteria and practical situation. Then, all the credits will be added together to obtain the final evaluation of the site.
Therefore, we implemented a project plan assigning each person specific sections of the SSI-Water to complete. Ming, Ron, Salman, Terence, and Jeremy will work on the SSI criterion as labelled above and Iris will follow up the whole process and help out on all the parts.
Also, we made work schedule to make sure the project can be finished on time. There less than three weeks until the due date of the project.
- On the following week, we will start collecting all the necessary data and discussing the limitations of the evaluation.
- The weeks following, we will do the analysis and calculations based on the data we had and assign the corresponding credits for each part. We will then combine all the documents together and revise our final report.
Feel free to contact us at ssi.agrd.walkway@gmail.com for further inquiries.
UBC Agricultural Roadway Group
It looks like you made a great deal of progress this week. It’s great to know that you are keeping an eye on the time-line!
It looks like you’ve come up with a schedule of tasks in order to get the project done. I suggest you show your plans to Dean before you begin the work (or maybe you’ve already done this?).
What is TR55 software?
Keep up the good work.
Susan Nesbit
Hi Team,
I have YVR rainfall intensity data, as well as a backgrounder in stormwater drainage calculations and some simplifications that you can make in order to estimate flows for the Buchanan site. Please contact me via e-mail and I will forward this info to you.
Regards,
Susan Nesbit
I’ve always wondered whether there is any ongoing temperature and precipitation monitoring specifically on the campus. Would be great to use if it exists.
Dean