A Pitt student group project took second place in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA )’s ninth annual Campus RainWorks Challenge, a national competition that involves students developing green on-campus infrastructure solutions to combat rainwater pollution.
For the competition, the EPA urged students in the United States to apply principles for the design of green infrastructure, encourage interdisciplinary collaboration, and increase the use of green infrastructure on the country’s university campuses.
The winning PreciPITTation team members include:
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Brandon Brewster: Environmental Science Team Leader
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Aaron Carr: Environmental Science
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Maria Documentary: Architecture
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Maggie Lincoln: Ecology Evolution and Physics
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Harisa Martinos: architecture
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Kelly McQueston: Geology
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Nicole Thompson: Civil Engineering
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Lou Tierno: Environmental Studies
The Pitt student team received assistance from Dan Bain from the Department of Geology and Carla Ng from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
As part of the RainWorks Challenge Masterplan category, the PreciPITTation project used several environmentally friendly infrastructure methods to create a master plan that focuses on the elimination of combined wastewater overflows. This is a complex affair across the country, particularly the Pittsburgh area, due to the combination of local issues with sewage overflow. Students worked with internal and external stakeholders to develop a design that would manage stormwater runoff and reduce flooding while creating safe, multifunctional spaces accessible to the Pitt campus and communities in the greater Pittsburgh area.
With the support of the university’s Facility Management and Sustainability Offices, aspects of the PreciPITTation plan will be incorporated into the implementation of the university’s campus master plan, including green roofs and growing tree tops across campus. The team’s concepts are also reflected in upcoming rainwater projects on campus, which include a cross-campus rainwater harvesting system and an above-ground green rainwater infrastructure, as provided for in the team’s designs.
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