Haverford College
OP-23: Rainwater Management

"The Haverford College employs a myriad of green infrastructure and low impact development (LID) practices across campus which recharge the water table, improve water quality and minimizing direct runoff into its ponds, streams, and municipal rainwater drainage system.
Guiding principles of the College’s rainwater management include: harvesting rainwater for reuse in landscape irrigation or within buildings, maximizing infiltration to groundwater, improving water quality of runoff, and reducing the volume and rate of rainwater runoff before any discharge to its streams, ponds, and municipal rainwater drainage system.
Southwest Corner of Campus – This area is defined by Featherbed Lane to the north, Walton Road to the east, Haverford Road to the west and the south edge of campus. Rainwater is directed to a large detention basin just west of the Facilities maintenance yard, any detention basin overflow and surface rainwater from adjacent athletics fields & the Haverfarm flows to seven, 24’ deep x 4’ diameter seepage pits, any remaining surface water flows across Haverford Road to a 30’ x 60’ x 4’ deep seepage pit. Over 95% of the rainwater in this area is recharged to the water table. A well water pump house irrigates the athletic fields and the Haverfarm.
Pinetum to North of the Southwest Corner of Campus – This area is defined by Featherbed Lane to the south, additional athletic fields to the east, Haverford Road to the west and College Avenue to the north. This area of campus is undeveloped, except for three faculty houses at the northern edge. Some time ago the College decided to stop mowing this area and the entire area is now maintained as a meadow as part of the Arboretum’s vegetation management program. The Pinetum Meadow accepts rainwater runoff from all the athletic fields to its east, slowing the flow of surface rainwater, improving the water quality, recharging the water table and eliminating the flooding that use to occur at Haverford Road.
Athletic Fields East of Pinetum – This area is defined by College Avenue to the north, Walton Road to the east, Featherbed Lane to the south and the eastern edge of the Pinetum Meadow to the west. Swan Field has a porous artificial surface, built on a 24’ stone bed that contains sub-surface piping that retains and recharges rainwater, any overflow is discharged to the Pinetum Meadow. Similarly Walton Field has an underground drainage system; any overflow finds its way to the Pinetum Meadow via a swale at the field’s northern end. The Class 88 Field is a grass field with no underground drainage system and the adjacent tennis courts are built on fill. The Baseball Field has an underground rainwater drainage system for the infield that is routed to two seepage pits on either side of the batting cage, any overflow finds its way to the Pinetum Meadow. The outfield gently slopes to the Pinetum Meadow to the east.
North to South Central Area of Campus – This area is defined by College Avenue to the north, Harris & Coursey Roads to the east, the South Parking Lot to the south and Walton Road to the west. Toward northwest corner of this area, Stokes Hall has green roof on a portion its roof; the remainder the roof rainwater is directed to two seepage pits adjacent to the building. To Stoke Hall’s east is Founders Hall; a moat around Founder’s perimeter collects rainwater and discharges it into an abandoned tunnel where is recharges the water table along 200’ long tunnel. Rainwater from the VCAM building is routed to a 1,000 SF rain garden in its south lawn. South of the VCAM building the Athletic Center directs its rainwater to an underground grey water tank; any overflow from the grey water tank discharges to 40’ x 60’ x 14’ deep seepage pit in the northeast corner of the South Parking Lot. The entire South Parking Lot is porous paving built on a grave base, enabling rainwater recharging. Via a network of underground drainage piping, rainwater from all other buildings & grounds in this area is routed to the large 40’ x 60’ x 14’ deep seepage pit in the northeast corner of the South Parking Lot. Any overflow from the seepage pit discharges through a headwall into a stream.
East Side of Campus – This area is defined by Old Railroad Avenue to the North, Lancaster Avenue to the east, the sinuous southeast campus property line, Ardmore Avenue to the south and Woods Road/Coursey Road/Harris Road to the west. In the woods at the northern edge of this area there is a 6’ high culvert that passes under Old Railroad Avenue and discharges into a 0.25 acre upper or sediment pond; the sediment pond accepts discharge from an approximately 200 acre township residential area to the north. The surrounding woods and sediment pond provide the first level of water quality improvement. Overflow from the sediment pond discharges in a 3.25 acre pond to the south. The pond takes in surface rainwater from the grass field to the east. To the pond’s west the Arboretum has established a 5 acre meadow/wetlands area. This meadow/wetlands filters and improves the rainwater quality of all building & grounds rainwater runoff from the three north dorms, Union, Roberts and Barclay along the east side of Harris Road. Running east to west, to the south of the pond is College Lane; rainwater from the eight faculty houses and their grounds, to the east, discharge into a large rainwater garden on the south side of College Lane, opposite the pond. The pond overflows into a stream that meanders southward through 10 acres of wooded area to 4’ x 8’ culvert at the northern edge of the Visitor’s Parking Lot. The culvert continues southward under the Haverford College Apartments complex, then through/under the off campus neighborhood to the south, ultimately discharging into a stream behind a convenience store on Haverford Road. To the north of the Haverford College Apartments are the College’s newest dorms Tritton & Kim; all site and building rainwater is collected in an underground retention system which stores heavy rainwater for slow release and recharging of the water table. Additionally the entire one acre area of Tritton and Kim roofs in a green roof that recovers rainwater to sustain the green cooling roofs.
Future Initiatives - This summer the pond will be dredged. The upper pond or sediment pond is typically dredged every 3 to 5 years and the pond every 5 to 7 years. Momentum is building for a stream bank restoration project for the small stream that winds through campus. Funding is being sought for a Feasibility Study/Design to install well water pump houses to irrigate the athletic fields east of the Pinetum and the Founders Green in the Central Area of Campus; both areas are currently irrigated via municipal water. And funding will be sought for an updating of the Campus Rainwater Plan in the 7/1/18 to 6/30/19 fiscal year cycle.
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The College's Stormwater Management Plan is on pages 78 through 80 of the Campus Master Plan at the following link https://www.haverford.edu/sites/default/files/master-plan-final-report.pdf