CASE STUDY: CHANNEL DRAINS PROTECT FEATURED ZOO EXHIBIT, ANIMAL HABITAT
NDS SPEE-D CHANNEL DRAINAGE SYSTEM KEEPS EXTERIOR WATER AT BAY FOR ZOO'S ALLIGATOR EXHIBIT
Challenge: Alligator pit requires special drainage system
After being rescued from the Sacramento Delta, an American alligator named Bayou has attracted quite a crowd at the Happy Hollow Zoo. Located on the outskirts of San Jose, Happy Hollow added the Alligator enclosure to the zoo’s features in 2018. The enclosed space – which is a huge draw for visitors – is designed to provide a safe and secure habitat that enables Bayou to maintain his specic species-related behavior. During the pit’s design and building, the maintenance team was in need of an appropriate drainage system to ensure it captured and drained all water that wasn’t part of Bayou’s actual habitat.
Solution: Channel drain’s solid construction meets alligator’s needs while handling foot traffic
Since alligators can only tolerate freshwater, slow-moving rivers, swamps, marshes and lakes, it was important to keep any water outside of the exhibit from getting into the pit. The zoo’s maintenance team turned to NDS to install 400-10WH Spee-D Channel Drains around the enclosure’s perimeter. Spee-D Channel Drain components are chemically-resistant and much lighter than concrete. Sections snap together for fast, easy installation and outlets and adapters make configuration simple. This particular project included encasing the drains in concrete and rebar, which is a mesh of steel wires.
Impact: Low maintenance system has high traffic results
The zoo has been an advocate of NDS for years as they have used several NDS products around the property for some very specific drainage needs that are unique to a zoo. They trust the NDS team and product technology. They were able to pick up material immediately and the Spee-D Channel Drain is low maintenance and easy to install and its solid construction was designed to withstand the heavy foot traffic the exhibit experiences.