Client: Shapiro Didway Landscape Architecture, Portland, OR
Project type: Charter School
Project location: Redding, CA

Green Girl services provided:

• rainwater harvesting feasibility analysis and design review
• brainstorming to incorporate a woonerf
• decision making document comparing the water quality benefits of surface conveyance and treatment facilities

This charter school in Redding, CA is faced with skyrocketing water bills and a deep desire to create a sustainable school that is beautifully landscaped. Shapiro Didway will provide design of the entries, plazas, play areas, and gathering spaces. Native vegetation will be used almost exclusively through the project to reduce irrigation needs.

Shapiro Didway asked me to look at the feasibility of a massive rainwater harvesting system for irrigation. I performed calculations to confirm that the water budget of the site combined with the planned impervious areas would work and generated a report to make suggestions for what kinds of systems might be appropriate and where. I also made suggestions for how the effort might be incorporated in to the school's curriculum.

I was also invited to a brief design session where I sat down with members of Shapiro Didway to look at how the principles of "woonerfs" or "shared streets" to calm traffic. We created two different versions that used landscaping, narrow drive lanes, and changes in pavement materials to slow drivers coming in to the drop-off area. Many studies have been done on woonerfs that show that slowing traffic to 20 miles an hour through these approaches decreased the number and extent of accidents and injuries through eye contact between the drivers and pedestrians.

My third phase of involvement was to write a memo comparing the water quality benefits of various surface facilities. Originally, the school planned to harvest runoff from the parking lot, but as the design progressed, they decided to harvest from the building roofs and to manage the parking lot runoff in a detention basin (unfortunately, a detention basin wouldn't have been my first choice!). There was some conjecture that the rock-lined swales might provide the necessary water quality treatment. I wrote a narrative with supporting research that concluded that vegetation is definitely needed, and the more, the better.