Open Collections

How do ponds on UBC’s campus play a role in the well-being of individuals?

University of British Columbia. Campus and Community Planning

The purpose of this project is to provide the UBC SEEDS Sustainability Program and UBC Building Operations analysis on what role water features/ponds have on individuals at UBC. The ponds on campus need to be consistently maintained by the UBC Building Operations but are often costly, making it difficult to receive aid for its maintenance. In order to achieve a wider perspective on the issue, Biodiversity and Water Quality, were broken down into Green Coverage and Turbidity. Green coverage was chosen because it was found that this particular topic is a factor that the general public cares about in terms of assessing how much they care about ponds (Ngiam 2017). Turbidity was chosen as it is a component of water quality that fit best to our project, as it is something that can be noticed by the general public and will contribute in the overall assessment of the value of a pond. From 46 participants, the importance of water clarity was indicated to be 74% important. Almost 70% of survey participants responded the they enjoy ponds with more greenery and the exposure to green space was one of the top 4 reasons why people go to ponds. When asked how they felt around ponds at UBC: 96% chose relaxation, 91% chose enjoyment, 39% chose boredom and 17% chose disapproval (participants were able to choose one category or all that applied). This showed that more than 80% of the responses associated positive attributes towards ponds. The participants were also asked if they would favour the idea of having more ponds on campus. 43 of the participants did not hold a negative view. It is evident that people prefer to have more water features/ponds on campus or at least do not oppose greatly to the idea of it. This outcome is going to allow UBC Building Operations to determine how often specific ponds should undergo maintenance as well as if the cost of maintenance and repair are being put towards the appropriate ponds.

Text

University of British Columbia. ENVR 400

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0366158

Science, Faculty of; Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/