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DVU: Stormwater Basin Infiltration Research Project

G&A has long since been involved with capital improvement projects on the Delaware Valley University (DVU) campus.  G&A has performed numerous survey, geotechnical, wastewater, civil engineering, and environmental work for DVU over the years.  G&A was extensively involved with the campus Farm Market, South Residence Halls, Admissions parking lot, ball field parking lot, and most recently the Life Sciences Building located prominently along 202 in New Britain, PA.

G&A was able to pull from extensive service offerings and knowledgeable professionals to provide DVU with comprehensive services for the multi-million dollar Life Sciences Building and its associated improvements.  The following services were provided: survey, geotechnical, environmental, civil engineering, and construction inspection, bringing the project from conceptual design to finished product.

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Since the Life Sciences Building and associated improvements were going to change the existing landscape and increase impervious surfaces at the location, G&A was tasked as part of the design process to determine the best way to handle the increased amount of stormwater runoff from the newly created impervious surfaces.  Through extensive soil testing and engineering design, G&A proposed the construction of a surface feature that would ultimately capture the majority of a 2-year rain event and allow it to infiltrate into the soil below, either straight through the soil or through a stone bed infiltration system beneath the surface.

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In doing so, the professionals at G&A had a unique opportunity to incorporate research related design features into the proposed stormwater management facility that was to serve the building and adjacent impervious surfaces. G&A was performing all soil testing and design of the stormwater management facility, and the design team determined to incorporate two shallow monitoring ports in the stone infiltration bed, and one drilled monitoring well approximately 15 feet outside the stone bed to monitor potential groundwater mounding implications. These monitoring features were installed to assess the functionality of the system at infiltrating stormwater runoff, as well as assessing the soils ability to filter the infiltrating runoff and capture nutrients and pollutants and keep them from entering the groundwater table below.

G&A’s professional soil scientist and DVU alumnus, Matthew Hostrander, CPSS, leads this research project in conjunction with students, faculty, and staff at the University.  G&A is currently assessing the soils ability to infiltrate the stormwater runoff in comparison with the testing data and design parameters that were collected and used to design the stormwater infiltration facility. The research project was officially started in June 2015 and is to continue for an extended period of time in order to assess the long-term functionality of the system and to determine what, if any, testing methodologies, design parameters, or even construction measures need to be changed in the future to obtain the best stormwater management features for its clients, the community, and the environment.

Please stay tuned as there will be more updates on this research project as data is compiled and processed.  Mr. Hostrander and current DVU student, David Spadafora will be presenting their current findings with G&A employees in the coming weeks.