11/13 Aldo: Stormwater Management Notes

Please read through the notes. Hopefully this will give you guys some idea or maybe help you get a better picture of the storm water management system. I personally got confused at first, when I thought of storm water management. I really thought it really involved some type of pumps and/or heavy machinery. This is not the case. A good storm water management design involves a schematic placement of dips, certain landscaping, and combination of permeable and non-permeable building materials.

In places like south and Central America, due to their lack of regulation and political emphasis on the environmental stewardship, storm water management is last on everybody’s list. But at the same time, you hear of road, highways, and even people’s houses getting swept away by rivers and torrential flash floods. Then there is also the problem of standing water. Due to the lack of education in some of these rural countries, the standing water is used for potable purposes. The things that we saw on the news happening in New Orleans after Katrina, happen a lot in these developing countries on a yearly basis. I lived in South America for four years, and have seen and heard of some pretty crazing stories.

Iris and I had spoken a few weeks ago, before everybody was on board, and we had decided on the Costanera highway in Costa Rica because it seemed to be an easy source of information. This was because UF had conducted a study already. Because Iris goes to UF, she is currently working on getting the information from the study, so we can get a better handle on what is on that highway.

The information that we really need from that study is:

We need to figure out where the highway begins and where it ends. (Are we going to use these same starting/ending points?)
What is between these two points? Are there any “eco-resorts” or office buildings?? If so, we will probably have to include some guidelines for them in our study.
What type of landscaping, terrain, and ecological presence are in this location?
Where does the water come from? ie: what are the major impacts causing flood/water damage?



OK guys. If anybody has any comments, please feel free to jump in and say anything. I think this Thursday, may be a good idea for a conference call with everybody on the line. Does that sound good with you all?? I think 9 pm is a good time, unless no body can make it.



Aldo