Infrastructure (and Sustainability)

In 2015, UMass released the Master Plan Sustainability Chapter that outlined how the UMA was going to address sustainability needs of the campus given the Master Plan that had just been released. A portion of this chapter was dedicated to opportunities for stormwater mitigation. Green infrastructure is defined by the Clean Water Act as "the range of measures that use plant or soil systems, permeable pavement or other permeable surfaces or substrates, stormwater harvest and reuse, or landscaping to store or infiltrate stormwater and reduce flows to sewer systems or to surface waters." UMA is working to address stormwater quality and quantity control given the campus stormwater system is currently at capacity. The Campus Pond; wetlands and their buffer zones; and a drainage system that includes pipes, box culverts, swales, open streams, detention/retention ponds, underground storage chambers, and infiltration systems make up that stormwater system. While the campus pond makes up a portion of the stormwater system, the pond was not engineered for storm water collection. 

The Green infrastructure section of this webpage reviews projects completed by UMA that aim to mitigate the negative impacts of stormwater. New facilities, renovations, and landscape interventions implement industry best practices to resolve campus stormwater issues on both the small (on site) and large (campuswide) scale. Operational management of landscape resources and academic programs have worked together on stormwater mitigation opportunities that present themselves on past projects to maximize efficiency and impact. Check back to see how this list of projects grows.

On the right column of this page (or below on a mobile phone) select the triangle pull-down menu to get a list of green building project websites.  Alternatively, you can scroll through the alphabetical list of buildings by using the Previous-Up-Next buttons below.