On April 29th, Caroline Atwood ‘16 wrapped up the 2015-2016 Log Lunch year with a presentation of her senior thesis. Caroline spent the past year studying the water balance and hydrology of the brand-new Class of 1966 Environmental Center.
Caroline began her presentation by informing the audience that the Class of 1966 Center was designed to be a Living Building. A Living Building, Caroline explained, is a building that is regenerative to its surrounding environment, rather than one that has a negative, extractive impact on its environment. Living Buildings are particularly special green buildings because they are evaluated and certified based on performance over a year, rather than on design. And importantly for Caroline’s thesis, an essential aspect of this performance has to do with the way the building handles its water use. Specifically, 100% of the water that the Class of 1966 Center uses must be dealt with on-site. In order to achieve this, the Center uses a rainwater catchment system on the rooftop. Rainwater is collected, purified, and stored in an underground cistern, ready for use in the Center. But the Center’s water is not just used for drinking and plumbing: another aspect of a Living Building is that ? of its surrounding landscape must be edible. This means that the Center needs extra water to keep its crops alive–and most of this water is stored in ponds surrounding the Center.
Caroline sought to answer three questions in her thesis. First, is there enough water for the building? Second, is the pond system working? And third, is there enough water for the crops? She spent a year trudging out to the ponds to measure things like water level, runoff, and evaporation in all weather and at all times of the day and night. At the year, after freezing, soaking, and (very occasionally) enjoying sunny pond-side days, Caroline concluded that the Center does produce enough water for the building: the Center uses about 20,000 gallons of water per year and produces about 37,250 gallons per year. Caroline also decided that the ponds are (mostly) working, with the caveat that water doesn’t infiltrate very much at the moment since the ground was impacted during construction. She expects infiltration to improve as the ground loosens up over the coming years. Finally, Caroline concluded that there is enough water for the crops, too, if some water is drawn from the ponds.
This is good news for the Center, and its Living Building ambitions. Thanks are due to Caroline for her research- and here’s to William’s College’s inspiring dedication to the Living Building Challenge!