Cold Spring Elementary School, Montgomery County - Environmental Site Design
Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection is retrofitting some of public facilities with ESD techniques to achieve the County’s goal to treat 20% of existing impervious areas. MCDEP had chosen Cold Spring Elementary School (CSES) as a site to treat existing pavement that did not have any stormwater management facilities. Huron Consulting, while providing site design for a new gymnasium addition to the school, worked with DEP to create a unique stormwater management facility that would accomplish MCDEP’s goals of treating existing impervious as well as providing stormwater management for the new addition.
For the design of site features, Huron designed a three-tiered bio-retention facility within an existing slope to treat and manage stormwater. Grass weirs are provided at each tier where the stormwater collects, percolates, and is treated for pollutants by bioretention media. The overflow runoff is collected at the bottom level and ties into an existing drainage system.
To minimize disruption to the site and to retain grass playfields and a community snow sledding area, the facility is being constructed within an existing 3H:1V slope. The existing parking lot was divided in two basins so a break in the retaining wall system could be created to accommodate sledding activities. A global stability analysis for the retaining walls was completed to ensure the system is structurally sound.
rendering courtsey of JK Architects
Chesapeake Bay Watershed Restoration and Conservation
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is working in partnership with Chesapeake NEMO and the National Park Service to facilitate the delivery of technical assistance to communities and local governments in the Chesapeake watershed seeking watershed restoration, conservation and planning. As a technical provider under this program, Huron Consulting was selected to provide stormwater management, land use planning, water quality monitoring and public access planning and design.
St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, Potomac, MD
Synthetic Turf Fields, various facilities, MD, VA, DC
Huron is helping schools and parks "go green" by replacing their natural grass athletic fields with synthetic turf fields which employ an underground stormwater infiltration system. This design significantly reduces construction costs and provides water quality treatment and ground water recharge. The new fields reduce sediment runoff caused by excess use of grass fields and eliminate the need for thousands of gallons of water and harmful pesticides.
Huron recently completed the design of turf fields at a park and nine schools in MD, VA and DC.
“Huron consulting is spot on every time in design and execution.”
Joseph R. Phelan, MBA, Director of Operations, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School
Town Hall, Pervious Pavement Parking Lot, Poolesville, MD
More municipalities are replacing their parking lots with pervious pavement, a safe and sustainable alternative to traditional pavement. Pervious pavement absorbs stormwater and is safer than traditional pavement because it maintains traction when it gets wet and prevents black ice from forming on the pavement. Huron completed a fast-track project in Poolesville, with the construction of the parking lot completed within 28 days of approval.
This video demonstrates the effectiveness of pervious pavement two years after construction.
photo courtsey of LSG Landscape Architecture
Kemp Mill Urban Park, Stormwater Management Pond Retrofit, Wheaton, MD
Huron's design for the retrofit of this stormwater management pond built in an urban park in the 1960s provides for circulation, to enhance water quality and minimize algae and organic waste.
photo courtsey of LSG Landscape Architecture