The University of California, Davis, (UC Davis) and the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service's Center for Urban Forest Research have teamed up to conduct two new research programs on the university's campus. One is a test of a soil designed for parking lots; the other is a study of new, disease-resistant breed of elm tree.
Scientists from the urban forest center and the UC Davis Department of Land, Air and Water Resources recently finished installing a new, lighter kind of soil engineered specifically for parking lots. Trees, their root systems and the new soil that supports them combine to form a mini reservoir for capturing storm water.
The so-called Davis soil is made with materials that are naturally available and inexpensive. It traps, cleans and slowly releases storm water, reducing pollutant loads and runoff flooding. At the same time, the trees shade the parking lot, lowering pollutant emissions from cars and reducing the ambient temperature, absorbinb pollutants from the air, capturing additional storm water and beautifying the environment.
The mini reservoir design and the Davis soil are being tested under everyday conditions in a UC Davis parking lot. Sixteen treated parking spaces are being compared with 16 parking spaces designed according to campus standards.
Source: UC Davis
