Student rain garden aims to protect Mill River

HAMDEN — Quinnipiac University faculty and students Friday surveyed a site where a student-designed rain garden would be installed over the weekend, in a project aimed at protecting the Mill River.

Set to be installed near the Albert Schweitzer Institute, the garden will collect stormwater from the roof of the building, preventing pollutants the water might carry from entering the Mill River, according to Kimberly DiGiovanni, an assistant teaching professor of civil engineering at Quinnipiac.

Such polluntants can include nutrients and bacteria, said Giovanni, an expert in green stormwater infrastructure who said she also works with New York City on sustainability initiatives.

Students in DiGiovanni’s ecological engineering class began designing the rain garden in spring 2020, and while they knew there was a lot of interest in getting it built, they did not think it

would be finished in just a year, according to Michael Ciacciarella, president of the university’s student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Ciacciarella was involved with the project from start to finish, according to DiGiovanni.

“I’m really excited to see the process come to fruition,” she said, adding that while the university has a sustainability initiative, “this is the first studentdesigned rain garden that we are installing.”

It was a collaboration with the “YOU GOT THIS, KID! Leadership Foundation,” launched earlier this year by Quinnipiac University alumnus Chuck Saia, that pushed construction forward.

Saia started the foundation after releasing his book, “YOU GOT THIS, KID! Words of Advice for Young Leaders,” he said.

All book proceeds go toward the Saia Family Fund at Quinnipiac, and the leadership foundation then spends the money to support environmental sustainability initiatives and initiatives that benefit people with Lupus, both areas about which Saia is passionate, he said.

The rain garden marks the foundation’s first public project. Saia’s team, which helped coordinate the installation, planned to assist in the construction process, pay for Saturday’s meals and hold a book-signing at the event, Saia said.

To forward its mission, the foundation is working to

create “strategic partnerships” with local organizations geared toward sustainability, according to Saia.

“I actually wanted an impact in our local community,” he said. “I love the

Mill River, because frankly I would have a better GPA in undergrad if I didn’t spend so much time fishing it.”

Courtney McGinnis, a Quinnipiac University biology professor who sits on the foundation’s board, said it was after she met DiGiovanni, who serves on the board of the Mill River Watershed Association, that the foundation got involved in the project, as the two got the idea to team up.

The garden was expected to be completed by Saturday, according to Ciacciarella.

The initiative formed part of Quinnipiac’s “Big Event,” a day when hundreds of students work on service projects to benefit the region, according to a release from the university.

Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media Sean Duffy, right, executive director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute, demonstrates a rudimentary level for mapping contours of the land Friday to Michael Ciacciarella, president of the Quinnipiac University student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Society members are building a rain garden to protect runoff from the Albert Schweitzer Institute seeping into the Mill River.