Water Conservation |
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The storm water management strategy was primarily intent on improving the quality (80% TSS reduction), quantity, and discharge rate of storm water into the environmentally sensitive Oshawa creek watershed.
Components used in the storm water management strategy:
- Green roofs and storm water irrigation cisterns
- Fabricated wetlands, biofilters and ponds integrated into a series of gardens, courtyards and naturalized landscapes cleanse runoff water before it joins the Oshawa creek watershed
- Landscape design has parallel function of enriching campus environment
- A system of subterranean foundation drains integrated into each building allows pre-existing groundwater to flow into the watershed, ensuring that cool, clear groundwater continues to reach coldwater fish habitat
Water conservation was paramount in the design of a new state-of-the-art Aquaria Lab Facility for Dr. Douglas Holdwayn - one of Canada's foremost experts on ecological toxicology who has been awarded a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Aquatic Toxicology by the federal government. Careful coordination of architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, civil, landscape and aquatics scopes resulted in significant water savings. Ground water supply wells, the lab proper, the cisterns, the grey water distribution piping in all of the buildings, the irrigation systems, and the storm water management ponds all function as part of a system that ensures the quality of the lab’s water and minimizes the lab’s ecological burden.
- The lab houses twelve 1000L aquaria, one hundred 100L aquaria and one hundred 10L aquaria
- Total water use of aquaria: 88,000L of fresh water per day
- Water for aquaria supplied by ground source wells in order to ensure high quality, low-in-metals water
- Standard domestic city water is provided in parallel complete with 100% duty stand-by filtration system, to ensure continuous operation of the lab in the event of well failure.
- Hardware provisions have been designed to allow wastewater to be directed to a grey-water cistern where the water can be reused to irrigate the campus core (pending approval from the various authorities having jurisdiction).
- Grey water usage within the buildings is directed into the storm water management system rather than directly into the sanitary sewer as conventionally done.
- Net savings: 32 million liters of water per year
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