Stormwater

Western Michigan University (WMU) has taken the lead on adaptive management to address stormwater runoff challenges in their community. WMU is a permitted Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) within the Portage-Arcadia Creek basin in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It falls within the nonpoint source (NPS) load allocation for a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) developed for the downstream Kalamazoo River and Lake Allegan requiring a 50% load reduction for total phosphorus (TP). Kieser & Associates, LLC (K&A) has been assisting WMU with stormwater management consulting and engineering services since 1999 in response to MS4 and TMDL issues.

For more than two decades, WMU has led local efforts to implement urban stormwater controls in the Portage-Arcadia Creek basin. Since 1998, WMU has implemented 44 stormwater control projects utilizing federal/state grant funding and strategic MS4 partnerships to implement controls identified within an EPA-approved Watershed Management Plan. With the help of K&A, WMU intentionally set out to become the first MS4 in the Kalamazoo River Watershed to document their efforts to reach the 50% TP reduction goal for their stormwater footprint of approximately 807 acres, including more than 100 buildings serving 25,000 students.

K&A evaluations of campus stormwater load reductions have documented WMU efforts and achievement of this TMDL goal through a range of on-campus and off-campus stormwater treatment projects. By 2013, WMU met and surpassed their TMDL reduction goal with on-campus projects. As of 2022, nearly 80% of their main Kalamazoo campus has stormwater treatment infrastructure in-place. For their Parkview Engineering Campus, 100% of all stormwater is captured on-site.
WMU also embraced a larger vision to become Stormwater NeutralSM verified for TP (i.e., “net-zero” phosphorus discharges from their stormwater footprint). Stormwater NeutralSM is an independent, third-party verification associated with "net-zero" stormwater loading resulting from stormwater controls relative to a quantifiable baseline condition. WMU achieved this goal also in 2013 considering their stormwater treatment investments for off-campus and adjacent to campus projects within the local watershed. They have since surpassed this goal.

Stormwater treatment and control projects focused on multiple goals: reducing direct discharges of urban stormwater runoff to surface waters, naturalizing conveyances and stream corridors, repairing erosion caused by urban runoff, reducing phosphorus and sediment loads to tributaries of the Kalamazoo River, reducing flood potential and increasing groundwater recharge. These were achieved using stormwater treatment practices including infiltration, detention/retention, and various green infrastructure and low impact development applications for all new capital improvement projects.

WMU’s stormwater investments since 1998 have exceeded $5.8M through strategic planning, capital investments and state/federal grant support. Quantifying the water quality benefits of various project opportunities has allowed WMU to implement cost-effective stormwater controls.

• WMU stormwater treatment projects within their MS4 campus footprint, achieved the 50% TMDL reduction in 2013 from their 1998 baseline annual load of 764 pounds.
• To date, these on-campus projects have reduced their annual TP loading footprint to 175 pounds from the 1998 baseline (a 77% reduction).
• Stormwater treatment areal coverage has increased from 236 acres in 1998 to 488 acres in 2021 out of 619 acres on the Main WMU campus; a 52% improvement over 2011 treatment coverage.
• WMU’s treatment of runoff from areas adjacent to campus not under their control contributing additional runoff to their infrastructure, and off-site project investments have achieved an annual load reduction of 968 lbs/year to the Portage-Arcadia Creek watershed and downstream Lake Allegan.
• Overall load reductions since 1998 achieved a zero-discharge Stormwater NeutralSM status for total phosphorus by 2013.
• Continued WMU commitments to address remaining untreated areas on their campus and adjacent areas have now surpassed the zero-discharge goal by more than 200 pounds/year.
• Reductions since 1998 represent capital improvement expenditures of over $5.8M in stormwater retrofits and new treatment infrastructure; portions of this investment coming from university and technical partner persistence to pursue grant funding.
• Local stormwater infrastructure improvements led by WMU have resulted in significant stormwater volume reductions that have mitigated severe wet weather flooding events on campus and in downstream urban areas of the City of Kalamazoo along Arcadia Creek.
• WMU continues to pursue local water quality improvements by integrating low impact development and green infrastructure on all future campus renovations.
• Large, regional treatment opportunities still exist on-campus that have been conceptually designed and targeted for grant fund implementation support.