Campus Water Matters: an SEC Intra-Collegiate Competition

Campus Water Matters: An SEC Intra-Collegiate Competition

Introduction

One of the most urgent challenges facing the Southeast and the nation today is ensuring an adequate supply and quality of water for both humans and the environment. Growing populations and the resulting municipal, agricultural, and industrial demands for water diminish natural supplies and threaten the ecosystems that depend on thosesupplies. The SEC college campuses are microcosms of the larger-scale water challenge. Our campuses house sizable populations and cover expansive landscapes that contain multiple land uses and water bodies. The resources and teaching mission that ourschools embody also offer an idealopportunity to develop and showcase innovative designs for sustainable and resilient water resources.An intra-conference design competition, ‘Campus Water Matters’, is being sponsored by the 2017 SEC Academic Conference and Mississippi State University, with the goal of engaging students in designing sustainable water resource solutions on SEC campuses. This competition is similar in nature to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Campus Rain Works Challenge; however, projects in the Campus Water Matters competition will not be limited to addressing stormwater issues, among other differences. Participating students and faculty are encouraged to attend the 2017 SEC Academic Conference, “The Future of Water: Regional Collaboration on Shared Climate, Coastlines, and Watersheds,” which is being sponsored by Mississippi State University and will be held March 27-28, 2017 in Starkville, Mississippi. Winners of the competition will be announced at the conference, where students will be able to participate in a professional conference and meet both faculty and student attendees from other SEC institutions. This document describes the ‘Campus Water Matters’ competition and outlines the guidelines for participation.

Objectives: The objectives of the Campus Water Matters intra-collegiate competition are to:

Engage students to innovate, design, and communicateinterdisciplinary solutions to enhance sustainable water resources.
Use the SEC campuses to showcase innovative water resource designs that provide multiple benefits and expose students to practical research.
Encourage collaboration between students and faculty across SEC campuses.
Encourage student participation at the 2017 SEC Academic Conference.

Summary: The labor market reflects the increased concern over water resources. According to the US Department of Labor, jobs in environmental engineering and environmental science are expected to grow at a faster than average rate through the year 2022.The Southeast, in particular, faces issues with declining aquifers, polluted water bodies, drought/flooding, and conflicts over water rights.SEC schools need to train innovative scientists, designers, and engineers to develop resilient and economic solutions to water issues and fill these importantjob positions.

As campuses grow, student enrollments increase, and climate patterns change, our increasing water needs must be balanced with existing environmental requirements. SEC campuses impact water resources in many ways. Campus stormwater is routed primarily through engineered collection systems and discharged into natural waterbodies. This process affects both the quantity and quality of water entering those waterbodies. Conservation plays an important role in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, which is networked throughout campuses. Some campuses have their own treatment systems. Conservation plays an important role in either scenario. Landscapes in some areas are highly managed, and these practices should be optimized to reduce the impact to water resources. Some campuses may have recreational ponds or other water resources, and land-grant universities have agricultural research areas.

There are a myriad of best management practices (e.g. stream buffers, mowing practices, planting plans, and erosion management) and green infrastructure technologies (e.g. green roofs, treatment wetlands, rain barrels) that can be used to protect and conserve our water. Education and communication are also important components to conserving water resources.The Campus Water Matters competition encouragesour students to become part of thewater solution and will engage students from every SEC school in designing and innovating on-campus water resource solutions.

Calendar

Entry Forms Accepted: September 1 – October 28, 2016

Projects Due: February 17, 2017

Winners Announced: March 27-28, 2017 at the 2017 SEC Academic Conference

Awards

Each registered team that submits a project and presents their poster at the conference will be reimbursed $1,500 to cover costs associated with project design, implementation, and/or student travel to the conference.

Awards will be given for student teams placing first ($1,000), second ($500), or third ($250), to be evenly divided among student team members. Awards of $1,000, $500, and $250 will also be given to faculty advisors of the winning teams placing first, second, and third, respectively.

Eligibility

The SEC Academic Conference Advisory Board member at each school will be responsible for advertising and promoting this competition, helping identify a faculty advisor, and helping coordinate the teams. Student teams must be composed of full-time students at one of the14 SEC institutions, and each student team must be sponsored by a faculty advisor. The team’s composition and size is to be determined by the team submitting an entry (undergraduates only, mix of undergraduates and graduate students, etc.). Each school is free to select how that team is chosen (e.g. engineering design course, professional society, classroom project, competitive, etc.).

However, the issue of water resources is not a disciplinary problem, and so the student participants may come from a wide variety of departments including, but not limited tothe following: engineering, landscape architecture, ecology, biology, economics, public administration, education, communications, etc. Interdisciplinary teams are strongly encouraged, since interdisciplinary collaboration is part of the judging criteria.

How to Enter

To participatein the Campus Water Matters competition, student teams must first complete the entry form found below. Entry forms will be accepted September 1, 2016 throughOctober 28, 2016. Late entries will not be accepted.

Submission Requirements

Teams will be required to submit a project narrative and a design board (poster) describing their project. Submissions should provide information sufficient in quality and quantity to allow the judges to evaluate the design. Submissions should describe the project’s goals, the project context within campus and the watershed, existing conditions, proposed solution(s), and expected outcomes.Project sites are required to be on-campus to engage students in their surroundings and provide opportunities to showcase on-campus innovation.

Project Narrative

The Project Narrative should give a summary of the team’s approach to addressing the judging criteria.
The Project Narrative should not exceed ten 8.5”x11” pages (excluding cover page, abstract, and references). Pages in excess of ten will not be evaluated. Pages should be numbered consecutively and have 1” margins. Text should be single-spaced in standard 12-point font, although headings may be larger than 12-point font. Text labels for graphics or images maybe smaller than 12-point font, and page numbers may be outside the 1” margin.
The Project Narrative must include a cover page that includes the project title, first and last names and disciplines of each team member, and name and discipline of faculty advisor. A project abstract, not to exceed 250 words, should also be included.
Teams must provide one electronic copy of the Project Narrative in Adobe Acrobat® PDF format.

Design Board

The Design Board should provide a visual explanation of the site context, design elements, and expected performance.
The Design Board should focus on visual elements and limit excess text. Do not duplicate graphics within the Project Narrative, but use the Design Board to supplement the Project Narrative.
The Design Board must be 24” x 36” and include a site plan. Other components might be conceptual drawings or graphics that show expected benefits.
Teams must provide an electronic copy of the Design Board in Adobe Acrobat® PDF format.

Letter of Support

The purpose of requiring a letter of support shows consultation and coordination with the campus facilities planning department to develop a feasible design.
The letter of support does not count against the 10 page limit of the Project Narrative.
Each team must submit a letter from a member of their college or university’s facilities planning department that demonstrates support for the proposed design. Letters should not exceed two 8.5”x11” pages, and pages in excess of two will not be reviewed.
The letter of support must be on appropriate letterhead, signed by a member of the facilities planning department, and must include the project title.
Letters of support must be submitted in Adobe Acrobat® PDF format.

Submission Instructions

Mississippi State University will collect submissions to the Campus Water Matters design competition via email. Teams must email their submissions to Mary Love Tagert at by Friday, February 17, 2017 at 11:59 p.m. CST.

Email submissions must include the school name in the email subject and in attached file names. Submissions must include the following components, which should not exceed a total file size of 15MB:

Project Narrative (saved as “UnivABC-Project Narrative.pdf”)
Design Board (saved as “UnivABC-DesignBoard.pdf”)
Letter of Support (saved as “UnivABC-Letter.pdf”)

Judging

Team submissions will be judged prior to the 2017 SEC Academic Conference, TheFuture of Water: Regional Collaboration on Shared Climate, Coastlines, and Watersheds.SEC Academic Conference Advisory Board members will participate in the judging.All submissions will be showcased during an evening reception at theconference, when awards will be made to the highest ranking teams.

Project Criteria

DOCUMENTATION (10):
Are the documents well-written and free of grammatical errors?
Is enough information provided to allow the judges to evaluate the design?
Does the narrative include a description of the project goals, project context, existing conditions, proposed solution(s), and expected outcomes?

PERFORMANCE (25):
Will the design improve water quality?
Does the design address multiple water resource goals (e.g., conservation, flood mitigation, water harvesting, water reuse)?
Is the anticipated performance quantified and supported by appropriate sampling, modeling, and/or calculations?

RESILIENCY (20):
Did the team consider the current and/or possible long-term impacts of climate change on their campus?
Does the design show how it can mitigate and build resiliency to the impacts of climate change, while still accomplishing its other intended goals?

INNOVATION AND VALUE TO CAMPUS (15):
To what degree were innovative approaches used to address multiple campus objectives, such as environmental, social, economic, etc.?
Does the design protect and improve ecosystem services (those provided by soil and vegetation)?
Does the team describe how the design will be integrated into campus life and benefit the campus community and, if appropriate, the community directly adjacent to campus?
Are the anticipated benefits quantified and supported in some manner (by appropriate assumptions, modeling, sampling, etc.)?

INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION (15):
Is the team composed of students from different disciplines, demonstrating collaboration between various disciplines?
Does the project cohesively show the functionality and value of the design from different perspectives (e.g. engineering, design, etc.)?

LIKLIHOOD OF IMPLEMENTATION (15):
Did the team work closely with the campus Facilities department in developing the design?
Does the design complement existing master plans or serve as a model for new long-term planning efforts?
Does the project include a description of how the design would be phased in or implemented?

Documentation Guidelines

For this competition, the design performance and its value to campus are important criteria. The following list gives examples of metrics the teams might use to document how their project meets these criteria. Not all of these metrics may be relevant to a particular design. When possible, though, quantitative information on the anticipated outcomes and benefits of a team’s design is strongly encouraged. It is also suggested that teams describe any methodologies used and provided references, as appropriate.

Reduction in impervious area (sq. ft., %)
Reduction in directly connected impervious area (sq. ft., %)
Reduction in runoff depth from existing and/or natural condition (in/year, %, or size of design storm managed)
Reduction in annual stormwater pollutant load from existing condition (lbs./acre/year)
Reduction in stormwater peak flow from existing and/or natural condition (based on 1-year, 24-hr design storm and shown as ft3/second/acre, %)
Reduction in landscape water requirement (gallons/year, %)
Reduction in potable water use for irrigation (gallons/year, %)
Reduction in potable water used indoors (gallons/year, %)
Annual groundwater recharge (gallons/year)
Area of protected soils (acres, sq. ft.)
Area of restored soils (acres, sq. ft.)
Are of protected or restored native plant communities (acres, sq. ft.)
Increase in canopy cover (10 yrs after installation) (% of site area)
Increase in roof area and/or hardscape area (roads, sidewalks, etc.) shaded by vegetation (% of roof or hardscape area)
Map showing locations of windbreak vegetation relative to buildings
Reduced energy use associated with indoor climate control due to vegetation/shading (%)
Air pollutant removal by trees (lbs./year)
Increase in plant diversity (plant list before and after project; use of native plants; use of minimum input plants; % of plants in specified category)
Increase in pollinator diversity (list of pollinators supported by plants before/after project)

Academic Honesty

By submitting an entry to the Campus Water Matters intra-conference design competition, you represent and warrant that any submitted work is original to the team and that it does not infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any other person.

To sign up for e-mail updates or ask a question about the Campus Water Matters competition, please send an e-mail to Mary Love Tagert at .

Campus Water Matters Entry Form

The Campus Water Matters competition is hosted through the 2017 SEC Academic Conference - The Future of Water: Regional Collaboration on Shared Climate, Coastlines, and Watersheds.

Send entry forms to Mary Love Tagert at . Entry forms will be accepted September 1, 2016 throughOctober 28, 2016.

Date ______

University ______

Faculty Advisor Information

Name ______

Department ______

Email ______

Phone number ______

Team member information

Name DepartmentGraduate/undergraduate status Email

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