The Environmental Impact of Drainage in Urban/Suburban Colorado Areas

Historically

When Denver first built unpaved streets, yards, and homes during initial development there was little thought given to drainage, flood, or water quality. The newly built environment created a muddy condition that was generally unacceptable to the people who lived in it. In the early 1900s the solution was to pave the streets and include curbs and gutters, which helped to quickly drain the environment and provide an all-weather solution for transportation. It was wonderful. The paved street flowed into enclosed, underground pipes which flowed into existing channels. When both of these options were at full capacity the final option was to pave pre-existing creeks and drain runoff that way. This was a solution that was viable and successful. It totally worked. The original problem was solved.

Unintended Consequences

When Denver held a population of 200,000 the paved drainage solution was perfect. When Denver's population grew to 2,000,000 the solution became overwhelming and dangerous. A flume of highly polluted runoff traveling at high velocities had been created. Today, street runoff is 200 times more polluted than raw sewage. At every level of the drainage sequence, expensive and maintenance-intensive mechanical solutions are now employed to try to cleanse the water and moderate the downstream flood danger.

There May Be A Better Way

Balancing infiltration galleries of never-graded soil profiles with paved densities proves a viable solution. Spreading and slowing the flow from the very first point of runoff using shallow, vegetated conveyance to replace paved curbs and gutters where possible is another (see photo above and below). Creating connected open space with shallow, spreading flow characteristics and using available open space with wetlands and retention ponds to cleanse water is yet a third. Engineering solutions can define the actual permeability of soil profiles and provide accountability to those aiding in the creation of flood and pollution.

The Payback

The creation of tiered payment system into which drainage entities pay only for the level of additional discharge and/or pollution they produce would provide a system much like those we have for sewer and water now: a pay-as-you-go system...or pay-as-you-pollute, pay-as-you-flood system. This would allow enough cash to become available to build and maintain flood and water cleansing facilities, and would make it possible for people to only be required to pay for that which they impact. Thus a great incentive for agencies, developers, and users to produce the least amount of non-infiltrative surface possible is invented. And a natural slowing of runoff and increase of infiltration, all to save money. Everyone benefits.

We are working diligently with the best minds in administration, engineering, open space, and politics to provide leadership in finding solutions far better than those pioneered in 1900 and somewhat improved in the 1970s. We know that our efforts will create a more affordable, cleaner, safer metropolitan area.

For a recently published book titled Blue-Green Fingerprints (available free online) on the subject of urban drainage, click here for the .pdf.

Posted By Axel Bishop

On the boards: 38th & Kipling Park

We've got a great new project we're working on for the City of Wheatridge. This site has sat empty for a long time and it's finally getting a park. The design is based on the theme of different aspects of the local mountains with a focus on the trees. The design includes a grass multi-use practice field, a small grass bowl amphitheater, a large plaza area with a shelter, splash pad, and a future restroom building, and a nice size aged separated play area based on the forest theme. The older and middle age play areas are themed around tree tops and tree houses and include a climbing wall in the future. The younger kids' area is based around the theme of the forest floor incorporating mushrooms, bugs and grasses. There's an existing ditch on the site which will be used as a natural water play area and possibly a source of irrigation. Our current design is for phases 1 and 2, planned for construction late this year through next year. Phase 3 of the park includes a skate park.

Erie Community Park

The growing town of Erie has been in the process of developing a civic precinct that will encompass a community center, a library, an amphitheater, a softball complex, an array of multi-use grass areas, tennis courts, and solar power-lit sport fields. Design Concepts currently has the opportunity to contribute to this local development by designing much of the outdoor space, including the amphitheater grounds.

In line with our efforts to develop in sustainable ways, this park--located west of I-25 and north of Highway 7--is focusing on using the sun and wind to power the area. The project will also use green building materials for all the outdoor structures. Design Concepts has been a part of the master planning and design and, as with other projects, we have committed to working around themes for Erie City Park: Prairie and Mining. The area is in fact being developed on the site of the old mines that first lead to the population of Erie, and indeed the East Boulder County area.

Currently the Erie Community Center and Library have finished construction and are open to the public.

DC Achieves a LEED-Gold certification

Last week Design Concepts was informed we'd received a LEED-Gold certification on Prairie View Middle School in Brighton. Congratulations go out to Sarah and Carol for this awesome accomplishment! The first public school to achieve LEED-Gold in Colorado was Aspen Middle School, which we also worked on.
Originally the goal had been 35 LEED points for Prairie View, and the thought was that a few points would be lost during the review. However, four points were instead GAINED--with two design points awarded during the review and two additional construction points submited--giving us a total of 39 points, which is certifiable at the Gold level. Every point that we went after was awarded, something the project lead designer/architect Nora informed us never happens.

There are only a few Colorado public schools which have achieved LEED certification, and Design Concepts is proud to have been a part of some of the few that are! We are currently attempting LEED Gold for Casey Middle School in the Boulder Valley School District. For a list of LEED certified projects click here (as of this posting Prairie View is still registered as "Brighton Middle School #3").

DC Attends The Olympic Curling Trials

As a firm that is intricately tied to senses of community, DC makes an effort to engage it’s staff both in and out of the office.  We work hard, often during long hours, and so it’s nice to see people we spend so much time with outside of the constraints of deadlines, design, and production.  For this year’s winter outing we headed to the Broomfield Events Center to see the Women’s Curling Olympic Trial Semi-Finals.  About half of our employees were able to join us, and some brought their friends, spouses, and children—including Sarah, who’s husband Greg turned out to be the most knowledgeable of the sport.

Curling is a team sport played on a long, narrow, iced alley down which players take turns “throwing” (sliding) 44 pound stones with handles, all in an effort to get as close to the target at the other end as possible.  This is done with the aid of two sweepers who use brooms to help the rock to travel both and faster and to the desired spot on the ice.  Simultaneously, there is an effort to knock the other team’s stones away from the target.  “Curling is far more interesting than I suspected” Axel commented while we were there, “because the level of athletic control necessary is phenomenal.  Speed, focus, angle, and target are all very important; it is a very ‘finesse-y’ sport.”

The Curling Olympic Trials was chosen for the winter outing due mostly to everyone’s unfamiliarity with the sport.  In the past the firm has taken the Ski Train to Winter Park and attended hockey games (where the coming Olympic Curling Trials came to our attention).  With the Broomfield Events Center being so close and the event’s uniqueness, attending the Curling Trials was an easy choice.