Parking in a Pool

The Importance of Proper Drainage              

       When we sprint to our cars after class during a rainstorm, we might be a little irked by the amount of water that we're splashing up as we run. These little puddles of water can be a real nuisance, but do you ever wonder how much water could actually be standing in your way if proper drainage was lacking? I discovered the amount of water that lands on a college parking lot in a recent lab, and the number may        surprise you.

       The test site was the Willett Science Center Parking lot of Mercer University (seen in the picture to the left, and outlined on the Google Earth image to the right). It's a pretty large parking lot-- I paced it at being 242 x 231 ft-- located in front of the science building, and behind the University Center and business school, so you can assume it sees a lot of foot and auto traffic. Calculating the volume (lxwxh) of water which would land on this parking lot during a 2 inch rainstorm, I found the number to be nearly 70,000 gallons. Seventy thousand gallons is enough to fill 7 standard sized swimming pools! Luckily the engineers have made our lives a little easier and designed the parking lot in a way to allow all of that water to be drained out. This drainage protects us from hydroplaning ours cars when trying to make a quick getaway, slipping as we scurry to the building, and keeps us from having to bring floaties on a cloudy day.