Letter: Sailing (by boat) on campus

I'm sure I'm not the only person who had a less than enjoyable time attempting to puddle-jump across the Forum Thursday after a day of rain that rivaled the remnants of the tropical storm we experienced in September. It served as yet another example of a problem on campus that is almost never brought up: the terrible storm water management system on campus.

This is a problem that presents itself every time it rains. Whether it's the moat outside South Court (every surface on the green was covered in no less than a half inch of water), walking upstream to Westhampton College, or through the Jeter archway cascades, any significant amount of precipitation actually makes it difficult to travel across campus.

As I walked up the hill back to South Court on Thursday, I watched the water course freely down the sidewalk, taking a lot of the topsoil from the flower beds with it. Aside from wasting money that the university has put into landscaping, that topsoil is clogging what few drains are on campus and causing sediment buildup in the lake. With all the talk of a "green" policy at the University of Richmond, it's surprising that the ineffective -- and in most cases, nonexistent -- system of storm water management hasn't been revamped.

Making all of the academic buildings on campus more energy efficient is great, but how about a system of functioning drains? If nothing else, put something in to place that would make sure that the main thoroughfare through campus can be navigated by foot, rather than by boat, in future rainstorms. It might just help out the local environment, too.

Phil Page

Richmond '11

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