Daily Pioneer News

Left to right: Benjamin Stys, Chris Olson and Ryan Mentor team up to complete their senior design project on stormwater management.

PLATTEVILLE - Senior design students at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville are gaining first-hand knowledge and hands-on experience working with a new phase of stormwater management that focuses on non-point pollution while completing their senior design project.

The team consists of three students who will each be graduating this May. Chris Olson, originally from Neenah, and Benjamin Stys, originally from Muskego, are each majoring in environmental engineering. The third member of the group, Ryan Mentor, originally from Hudson, is majoring in civil engineering with an emphasis in environmental and geotechnical engineering.

The purpose of the project is to design a stormwater management plan, for an industrial park located east of Platteville, which follows the new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations. These new regulations require all new developments to reduce the amount of total suspended solids from runoff by 80 percent.

Throughout the completion of this project, the team commented that they have learned many new aspects regarding stormwater management. These aspects include the numerous Best Management Practices (BMP's) that are available to improve stormwater treatment. More specifically the team mentioned that they have learned about the different types of soils and catch basins available to reduce rainwater runoff, and which methods work best under different conditions.

In addition to learning about BMP's, the team also remarked how this project has improved their computer software skills, particularly in using WinSLAMM. WinSLAMM is a computer program that allows the team to input different stormwater management options, and review the results of each choice.

In completing the project, the team has found many of the classes they have each taken at UWP to be very beneficial, along with their clients and advisors. The clients, Caroline Brandt and Jim Bachhuber, each from Earthtech, have provided the group with substantial information and software to complete the project.

Dr. Mike Penn, associate professor of environmental engineering, and Dr. Max Anderson, professor and chairman of the CEE department, have each aided and advised the design team throughout the course of the project.

The team commented how excited they were to work on a project that focused on innovative stormwater management practices involving non-point pollution, and the opportunity to take the next step towards producing cleaner surface waters.