The joint efforts of young scientists from the AdMaS research center, together with young researchers from the UCEEB center, led to the installation and revitalization of a functional unit for testing green roof compositions during the summer months. Although this summer’s precipitation was above average, the project activities are focused on “combating drought” and measures for appropriate water management in urban areas.
A partial goal of the project is to apply the possibility of using the so-called gray water (little polluted water from bathrooms, kitchens, laundry, etc.), which is after treatment as so-called white water suitable for irrigation, flushing toilets and other technological purposes. The AdMaS center operates fully instrumented models of green roofs irrigated with the above-mentioned gray, resp. white water, which are partly formed by a substrate of recycled building materials and materially transformed sewage sludge by microwave torrefaction into the form of a solid carbonaceous product (so-called “biochar”).
During testing, the quality and quantity of the inlet and outlet gray (white) water and the quality of the fitted green carpet are monitored. Already a visual comparison of two models of green roofs shows that the model where a substrate containing biochar is used generally shows better vegetation quality (color, density, etc.) and clearly significantly more efficient management of the entire composition of the green roof with watering.