Students Build Guilford Run Bioretention System

The Clark School's Maryland Sustainability Engineering Guilford Run Bioretention Project recently implemented a two-tiered bioretention facility, or rain garden, over UM's winter break.

Students of many different majors received hands-on experience working on a construction site and saw their designs realized. The bioretention system will catch and filter rainwater flowing off of a 3.5-acre area of UM's Parking Lot 1. This will help mitigate pollution of the nearby waterway Guilford Run, as well as slow down runoff water to decrease flash flooding and streambank erosion.

UM already has several other bioretention facilities in place around campus, but this project was a student-driven initiative. The student team worked closely with UM's chapter of Engineers Without Borders, University of Maryland Facilities Management and faculty in the Clark School during the design and implementation phases of the project.

The Department of Transportation Services contributed parking lot space required for use as implementation staging grounds. Funding for the project came largely from an award of $9,000 from the Campus Green Fund as well as a Chesapeake Bay Trust Mini Grant award of $5,000.

While the main implementation has been fully completed, a full-scale student planting of the rain garden and dedication will take place later this spring.

Published February 16, 2011