By Ed Putman

AquaShield™ stepped into the shoes of its customers when the firm decided to expand its corporate offices.

Working with a blank canvas for a new building and site design, the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based manufacturer of stormwater treatment systems saw a perfect opportunity to underscore its faith in its products by putting them to work at the company’s new flagship ­facility.

“We are well aware of what we can do to treat stormwater runoff and we wanted to incorporate cutting edge water-management technologies into our building plans,” said J. Kelly Williamson, president of AquaShield Inc.

The company has enjoyed its current urban (to tie into the closing graphs) location for the past seven years.

When a parcel of land literally next door became available, the time was ripe for expansion. The site is similar to those AquaShield customers deal with all the time. It had a major utility easement running through the property and faced a need for extensive fill and grading.

Customers often choose AquaShield because of conditions that require stormwater-treatment infrastructure that can fit between existing utilities and adapt to challenging terrain.

Southeastern Drought
Tennessee, like much of the Southeast is in the midst of a severe drought. Normally Chattanooga receives around 54 inches of rain annually. When construction began on the new office in 2007, Chattanooga had a 14 inch rainfall deficit for the year.

Despite the dry conditions, the company wanted to include rain-water harvesting—a natural extension of dealing with stormwater—in its plans. The design called for storing the equivalent water volume of a 100 year storm for some building operations as well as landscape irrigation. Those goals could easily be accomplished with the products AquaShield sells every day.

Faced with the demands of the site, modular polypropylene stormwater tanks were a perfect fit to store stormwater after being pre-treated by AquaShield products. The flexibility of the modular tanks to match any size or shape requirements will make rainwater harvesting and storage a cinch.

“We knew building the new headquarters would be the perfect way to showcase not only our products, but also lead by example by being better stewards of the environment in our own back yard,” said Eric Rominger, AquaShield general manager. “We went well beyond what regulations called for and jumped at the chance to demonstrate first hand how sustainable-design elements could be included in a practical manner.”

Economical Land Use
The new headquarters expansion would not require using the entire parcel for the project, even with a generous warehouse and ample parking. However, if a traditional detention pond had been incorporated into the site design, the possibility for future expansion would be greatly compromised.

By storing stormwater underground, AquaShield is able to conserve a substantial portion of the parcel for future use, which made good sense with rising land values and growth of the stormwater industry.

“Going underground with rain water storage will pay dividends in the long run and we will be grateful we banked this land for future use,” Williamson said.

Growing Green
The sustainable approach and being a good steward of land and water resources are fundamental to the mission at AquaShield.

As development paves over natural pervious surfaces, “green” technologies can easily be utilized to compensate for the changes made to the land. These technologies can replace or even improve naturally occurring processes.

For example, the use of turf cell technology in the parking area of the new corporate headquarters will significantly reduce the urban heat-island effect associated with traditional paving. The new building will also include a whole series of sustainable design features aside from those associated with stormwater. Combined, they will play an integral roll in making the entire project an example of what can be accomplished when the environment is made a priority, especially in an urban environment.

“Building in an urban environment does not have to be just cold steel and concrete,” Williamson said. “You can include design elements that are not only environmentally responsible but also allow you to take advantage of other ­opportunities if you understand how ­nature deals with the ebb and flow of rain fall.” SLDT