Hiawatha Collegiate High School

Hiawatha Collegiate High School’s new campus, on the site of the historic Canada Dry Bottling Works in the Longfellow Neighborhood of Minneapolis, includes a stormwater reuse system capable of irrigating the school’s athletic field and adjacent landscaping. The school secured a Capital Project Grant from the MWMO to increase the capacity of their underground storage system beyond the city requirements for water quality treatment and rate control. Grant funds were also used for pumps and controls needed to use the stormwater in their irrigation.

The school’s underground storage system captures and reuses stormwater for irrigation of the soccer field and green spaces around the building. Drain tile was installed beneath the soccer field to return any excess water so that it can be reused in a future irrigation cycle. The system is designed to capture and reuse an estimated 700,000 gallons of stormwater runoff each year. The new field and landscaping also reduced the site’s impervious surface area from 65 percent to 51 percent.

The project included cooperation and support from numerous neighborhood groups. Hiawatha Academies is the owner of the project; Rehder & Associates (civil engineer), U+B architecture & design, inc. (architect), and Water in Motion (irrigation consultant) were all essential in this collaboration.

The new campus opened in fall 2018 and welcomed more than 400 scholars. Hiawatha plans to leverage the educational potential of the stormwater reuse system to help teach students about conservation and sustainability. Students will have the opportunity to learn about stormwater reuse and related issues through classroom instruction, experiential learning, and interpretive signage.

See more photos of this project on Flickr.