Sunset on the Delaware Bay.
A Blue Heron hunting on the banks of an estuary.
Horseshoe crabs are a critical part of the ecosystem in Delaware....
Cape Henlopen Lighthouse - a constant on the Delaware coastline.
UD WATER (Watershed Action Team for Ecological Restoration ) is a university-wide project, conducted in collaboration with the City of Newark, which seeks to develop and implement management measures to mitigate the stormwater runoff problems facing UD and the City.
Senior Civil and Environmental Engineering (CIEG) 440: Water Resources Engineering students were provided a unique opportunity this fall to study the Newark campus and provide valuable input on making improvements to the campus' storm water management systems. The mission of this study was to identify and develop a "Best Management Practices" plan the University can utilize to direct and guide future strategies and initiatives to improve the quality and reduce the quantity of the stormwater runoff. Course instructor, Professor Kauffman, embraces the idea of collaboration between the University and the students in an effort to provide valuable exposure and practical engineering experience to authentic projects.
To accomplish this endeavor, the class and campus were divided into 14 different groups and sub-watersheds, respectively. Each student group was tasked with systematically surveying their assigned sub-watershed to identify stormwater improvement opportunities. The students utilized specialized equipment, such as, Global Positioning System (GPS)/ Geographical Information System (GIS) software and computers to complete the project.
The water resources engineering students prepared conceptual designs of 83 on-campus watershed restoration projects in the Christina River and White Clay Creek watersheds. The concepts ranged from reforestation and stream restoration along a steeply sloped tributary to the White Clay Creek on the Piedmont Laird Campus, to a designed stream restoration project along the Cool Run at the UD Farm, to a porous paving retrofit project at the Delaware Stadium parking lot. The students applied classroom concepts to solve real world watershed solutions.
This segment of the study concluded at the end of the fall 2008 semester and the information collected is currently under review. The next step is to select the identified opportunities that provide maximum water quality improvement in highly visible and easily accessible areas. This will allow for the University to not only garner the benefits of an increase in water quality, but also allow students and visitors to have access for educational outreach as well.
The opportunities that will be implemented will be selected by a committee comprised of University Professors, staff and students who all have a vested interest in storm water quality and will narrow the scope of work that will ultimately be assigned to the CIEG 443 Watershed Engineering, Planning, and Design class in the spring of 2008-2009 academic year. This class will once more, apply their skills under the guidance of Professor Kauffman to provide engineering plans to the University from which future efforts and resources can be based.
