Purdue students using water projects to teach community about sustainability
October 22, 2013
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Jon Eifler (left), a science teacher at Oakland High School in Lafayette, poses with the Purdue team of (front row, left to right) Lauren Kennedy, Ella Wynn, Michael McCormick, (back row, let to right) Lindsey Payne, Kent Freeman, Monica Rosenberg and Andrew Johnson near one of the gardens added at the school. The Oakland High School project included a rain garden, edible garden, native savanna, trees and rain barrels. (Photo provided) |
An environmental and ecological engineering class partnering with the Wabash River Enhancement Corporation is promoting water sustainability through small community projects that will help clean up the Wabash River.
With $50,000 from a Ford Motor Co. C3 grant, Lindsey Payne, a graduate student in ecological sciences and engineering, and her undergraduate Urban Water Projects class created water sustainability projects at Cary Home for Children, Imagination Station and Oakland High School in Lafayette. C3 stands for College Community Challenge, a Ford program providing up to five grants a year nationwide under the theme "Building Sustainable Communities."
"The overarching problem is storm water run-off carrying contaminants into the Wabash River," Payne says. "The idea behind these projects is they will help capture the storm water. By creating a rain garden, you create a space for rainwater to infiltrate back into the ground water system and be filtered in the process."
The first project was completed at the Cary Home in April. Purdue students and community volunteers planted a native savanna composed of nearly 9,000 plants that are native to the region and will naturally absorb rainwater, keeping it from eroding the soil and washing it into storm drains.
Another group of students installed a rain garden and rain barrels at Imagination Station, a volunteer-run community science center. The rain gardens will allow rainwater to be absorbed into the soil, and the rain barrels will collect water from the building's roof and downspouts.
The Oakland High School project was more extensive, including a rain garden, edible garden, native savanna, trees and rain barrels. Lauren Kennedy, a junior in environmental and ecological engineering, worked on a team at the school, where she learned more about the value of water conservation.
"We've all seen the Wabash," she says. "It's not the most beautiful river, and it could be. This is one way that an individual can make a difference instead of waiting for someone else to do something."
Purdue students developed maintenance plans for the water projects with community partners. These plans will allow community partners to maintain the sites themselves as they continue to apply what they have learned from Purdue students about water conservation and sustainability. After two years, the plants in the rain gardens and native savannas will be established and need little to no maintenance.
In honor of Green Week, a bus tour of the sites as well as the Hillenbrand Hall rain garden will showcase the work of both students and community partners. Students from each project will speak about the technical aspects of the projects, and community partners at each site will discuss their continued involvement with the urban water projects.
The bus tour will leave the Purdue Armory at 2 p.m. and return at 3:50 p.m. The tour is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Those interested in attending can reserve a seat online at https://purdue.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_8xp2JgpcImBFTVP.
For more information on the urban water projects or the bus tour, contact Lindsey Payne at paynel@purdue.edu.
Writer: Hannah Harper, harper4@purdue.edu