Jason Hanania: Quantifying Soil Moisture Fluxes in an Urban Rain Garden

My research focused on the hydrologic effectiveness of urban rain gardens in the City of Buffalo. I did this by installing probes in a rain garden that gave me a picture of the soil moisture distribution in space and time. I combined this with precipitation data, physical models I built in plastic barrels, and infiltration data collected with a field infiltrometer. All this information was able to tell me where water is going in the rain garden, how fast it moves, and how it is removed during and after storms.

 The most surprising thing that I learned through the preparation phase was the size and scope of the problem of urban water management. The city of Buffalo is facing a large fine from the EPA if they can’t get their sewer water issue under control and these rain gardens are one way they are trying to do that. I presented this research at a national conference and I am most proud of the award I won for best undergraduate poster in hydrogeology. This research furthered my professional goals by helping me land an internship. 

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