Stormwater

Green Roofs

Our first green roof was built in 1989 over the Bannan biology building.  Bannan's roof was planted with five feet of soil that supports many large pine trees.  Built into the hillside makes the green roof accessible from the adjacent quad. Skylights in the green roof bring daylight into the space below.  Our second green roof was built on the Admission & Alumni building's roof section over the lobby. 

Rain Garden

Our rain garden between the Lynn building and the Chapel was completed in November 2007 as a solution to winter rains flooding the basements of Lynn, Hunthausen, Xavier and the Chapel.    A rain garden is an excavated depression planted to look like a garden. Stormwater infiltrates through layers of soil and gravel as plants transpire moisture and help filter pollutants. The rain garden is ten feet deep, lined with a special fabric and perforated drainage system, and filled with a soil mixture designed to absorb and retain as much water as possible. Two trenches along the Lynn building west wall route water away from the building. One trench fills the rain garden and the other trench diverts the water from the building's foundation to the City's combined sewer overflow system.  As the garden reaches capacity, excess water flows into the City's combined sewer overflow system.