Improving Water Quality and Reducing the Volume of Urban Stormwater Runoff with a Bioretention Area

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fouad H Jaber ◽  
Emily R Guzik
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Stormwater Runoff ◽  
Urban Stormwater ◽  
Urban Stormwater Runoff

scholarly journals Impact of roof surface runoff on urban water quality

2012 ◽  
Vol 66 (7) ◽  
pp. 1527-1533 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Egodawatta ◽  
N. S. Miguntanna ◽  
A. Goonetilleke
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Stormwater Runoff ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Urban Stormwater ◽  
Urban Water Quality ◽  
Impervious Area ◽  
Road Surfaces ◽  
Urban Catchments ◽  
Urban Stormwater Runoff

The pollutant impacts of urban stormwater runoff on receiving waters are well documented in research literature. However, it is road surfaces that are commonly identified as the significant pollutant source. This paper presents the outcomes of an extensive program of research into the role of roof surfaces in urban water quality with particular focus on solids, nutrients and organic carbon. The outcomes confirmed that roof surfaces play an important role in influencing the pollutant characteristics of urban stormwater runoff. Pollutant build-up and wash-off characteristics for roads and roof surfaces were found to be appreciably different. The pollutant wash-off characteristics exhibited by roof surfaces show that it influences the first flush phenomenon more significantly than road surfaces. In most urban catchments, as roof surfaces constitute a higher fraction of impervious area compared with road surfaces, it is important that the pollutant generation role of roof surfaces is specifically taken into consideration in stormwater quality mitigation strategies.

Water Quality Impacts of Stormwater-Associated Contaminants: Focus on Real Problems

1993 ◽  
Vol 28 (3-5) ◽  
pp. 231-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Fred Lee ◽  
Anne Jones-Lee
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Stormwater Runoff ◽  
Quality Criteria ◽  
Water Quality Criteria ◽  
Urban Stormwater ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Beneficial Uses ◽  
Us Epa ◽  
Receiving Waters ◽  
Urban Stormwater Runoff

Water pollution control agencies are implementing control programs for chemical contaminants in urban stormwater runoff because concentrations of total forms of some contaminants in receiving water exceed numeric water quality standards. While some assert that stormwater-associated contaminants are causing water quality problems (impairment of beneficial uses), there are significant reasons to question the reliability of that claim. While urban stormwater runoff frequently contains many chemicals in sufficient concentrations to cause exceedance of numeric US EPA water quality criteria in receiving waters, exceedance of a water quality criterion/standard applied to total concentrations is not a demonstration of water quality impairment The US EPA water quality criteria were developed for worst-case or near-worst-case exposure to available forms of the contaminants. Such exposure conditions would not be expected with short-term, episodic runoff events. Substantial portions of many of the chemical contaminants in stormwater runoff are associated with particulates and would hence be expected to be largely unavailable to affect aquatic life-related beneficial uses of receiving waters. Furthermore, evidence of beneficial use impairment caused by urban stormwater runoff has not been forthcoming to document the claims. It is concluded that many of the contaminants associated with urban stormwater runoff from residential and commercial areas do not impair beneficial uses of receiving waters. The current US EPA water quality criteria have limited applicability to assessing potential water quality concerns for stormwater runoff. Guidance is presented on how urban stormwater runoff-associated contaminants should be evaluated and regulated to control use impairment without significant unnecessary expenditures for contaminant control.

Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Heavy Metals Concentration in Urban Stormwater Runoff

2013 ◽  
Vol 726-731 ◽  
pp. 1801-1804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu Min Wang ◽  
Hui Yu
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Stormwater Runoff ◽  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
Urban Region ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Distribution ◽  
Urban Stormwater ◽  
Metal Concentrations ◽  
Heavy Metal Concentrations ◽  
Urban Stormwater Runoff ◽  
Cu And Zn

In order to know the characteristic of spatial and temporal distribution of heavy metal concentrations in urban stormwater runoff, rainfall runoff from impervious underlying surfaces in urban region was observed during rain events. Results showed that during the precipitation process, heavy metal concentrations decreased gradually temporally (except Cd); concentrations of Fe, Cu and Zn meet Class III standard of Environmental Quality Standards for Surface Water in terminal runoff, but concentrations of Cd and Pb go beyond this standard far. Heavy metal concentrations in runoff from different types of landuses were significantly different. The arithmetic average concentrations of Fe, Cd, Cu and Zn in stormwater runoff from roof (e.g.,34.4mg/L, 0.15mg/L, 1.25mg/L and 1.23mg/L, respectively) were obviously higher than that in stormwater runoff from road (e.g., 11.8mg/L, 0.05mg/L, 0.13mg/L and 0.69mg/L, respectively).

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