A Project of the Wetlands Club
Overview
The Stormwater Ecological Enhancement Project (SEEP) began in
1995 as a take-home final exam for the course Ecosystems of Florida.
The objective was to develop a management plan to enhance a stormwater
retention basin located within the University of Florida Natural
Area and Teaching Lab (NATL) for species diversity while optimizing
the basins use for research and education. Since that time, the
Wetlands Club at UF has taken this project further
and implemented a full-scale created wetland that achieves not only the original
objectives but also improves wildlife habitat, water quality,
and aesthetics. These efforts have been in close coordination
with the NATL Advisory Committee.
What is a Stormwater Retention Basin?
Water that runs off the land during and after a rainstorm is called
stormwater runoff. This runoff and any pollutants it carries flows
into streams, rivers, lakes and depressions throughout the landscape.
In an urbanized landscape natural physical, chemical and biological
processes are disrupted and leaves, litter, animal waste, oil,
greases, heavy metals, fertilizers and pesticides are transported
downstream. A stormwater retention basin provides temporary storage
for the runoff generated by development in the watershed, releasing
it slowly and reducing the potential for flooding. The basin also
provides some treatment of pollution carried by the stormwater
runoff.
Wetland Values
While wetlands have historically been considered of little importance,
our increasing understanding of these systems is changing this
misconception. Wetlands are now recognized for providing many
vital benefits. Some of these benefits include:
Although we have lost more than 50 percent of the historic wetlands
in the lower 48 states, protection of wetlands has increased considerably
over the past 15 years due to recognition of these values.
Wetlands and Stormwater Basins
Wetlands can be found alongside rivers and lake shores, and as
low areas in the landscape that often become flooded during storms.
These wetlands are the natural stormwater basins of the landscape.
As humans create stormwater basins to reduce the effects of development,
it seems only logical to mimic these natural stormwater basins.
This provides benefits beyond that of water storage as the basin
becomes a multipurpose area serving our needs to reduce flooding
while offsetting wetland functions that have been lost over the
past 200 years. The water treatment component of the retention
basin would also be substantially enhanced by the diversity of
vegetation and complexity of the integrated wetland community.
The integration of these "free" services provided by
a natural system with the needs of our growing world has been
termed Ecological Engineering. This new approach to urban and
regional planning is not only a more environmentally sensitive
approach, but one that uses processes that have been working naturally
for millions of years.
The Retention Pond at NATL
The 3-acre retention pond is the low point of a 39.75 acre watershed.
The majority of the basin was constructed in 1988 with additional
storage created in 1990. Structures within this watershed contributing
significant runoff to the basin include the Center for Performing
Arts, Entomology and Nematology buildings, the Park & Ride
commuter lot and roadways between and around these buildings.
The total storage of the basin to offset the increased runoff
generated by these impervious surfaces is 478,000 cubic feet.
As originally designed the bottom of the basin is essentially
flat, with uniform slopes on the north, south and east sides.
To the west of the basin the slope is low and quickly grades into
the preexisting depression of the area. Because the basin is almost
uniform in elevation the established vegetation was dominated by
Cattail.
Ecologically Enhanced Design
The primary goal of the project is to increase the diversity of
flooding depths and frequency of flooding that will occur since
this is the primary factor regulating species composition in a
wetland. To do this two depressions, one 4-feet, the other 5-feet
deep, were dug at the southeastern end of the pond providing
a deep, open-water habitat. At the north end a low berm was
constructed to temporarily impound 80% of the entering stormwater.
This forebay provides the first phase of treatment and was
planted with species known to take up heavy metals and remove nutrients.
Water from the forebay is then slowly released, first flowing
through an area planted to resemble a bottom-land hardwood swamp,
and move into a shallow freshwater marsh before entering the deep-water
ponds.
At the southeastern end of the pond another small berm was
built to divert stormwater away from the deep-water ponds, increasing
treatment time. At the end of this berm a knoll was built
and planted with trees to provide nesting or roosting sites for birds.
The basin was planted with species that resemble those found
in wetlands of North Central Florida. A boardwalk also will be
constructed.
Expected SEEP Benefits
The SEEP project already has provided a great learning experience
for Wetlands Club members through project design and organization,
regulatory agency interaction and team work. Other benefits of
the project include:
The Wetlands Club
The Wetlands Club at the University of Florida was created in
1995 by students and staff who share an understanding of wetlands
and their values. Club members include graduate and undergraduate
students from the departments of Environmental Engineering Sciences
and Soil and Water Science. The Club, an official UF student organization
under the Benton Engineering Council, is open to all students
and staff regardless of their majors.
The Clubs involvement in the Stormwater Ecological Enhancement
Project (SEEP) is providing members with practical experience. For
more information about SEEP or the Wetlands Club, please contact
us at:
Wetlands Club
P.O. Box 116350
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-6350
(352) 392-2424
Address comments or suggestions about this Web site to natl@ufl.edu.