Method for assessment of stormwater treatment facilities – Synthetic road runoff addition including micro-pollutants and tracer

TY - JOUR

T1 - Method for assessment of stormwater treatment facilities – Synthetic road runoff addition including micro-pollutants and tracer

AU - Cederkvist, Karin

AU - Jensen, Marina Bergen

AU - Holm, Peter Engelund

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - Stormwater treatment facilities (STFs) are becoming increasingly widespread but knowledge on their performance is limited. This is due to difficulties in obtaining representative samples during storm events and documenting removal of the broad range of contaminants found in stormwater runoff. This paper presents a method to evaluate STFs by addition of synthetic runoff with representative concentrations of contaminant species, including the use of tracer for correction of removal rates for losses not caused by the STF. A list of organic and inorganic contaminant species, including trace elements representative of runoff from roads is suggested, as well as relevant concentration ranges. The method was used for adding contaminants to three different STFs including a curbstone extension with filter soil, a dual porosity filter, and six different permeable pavements. Evaluation of the method showed that it is possible to add a well-defined mixture of contaminants despite different field conditions by having a flexibly system, mixing different stock-solutions on site, and use bromide tracer for correction of outlet concentrations. Bromide recovery ranged from only 12% in one of the permeable pavements to 97% in the dual porosity filter, stressing the importance of including a conservative tracer for correction of contaminant retention values. The method is considered useful in future treatment performance testing of STFs. The observed performance of the STFs is presented in coming papers.

AB - Stormwater treatment facilities (STFs) are becoming increasingly widespread but knowledge on their performance is limited. This is due to difficulties in obtaining representative samples during storm events and documenting removal of the broad range of contaminants found in stormwater runoff. This paper presents a method to evaluate STFs by addition of synthetic runoff with representative concentrations of contaminant species, including the use of tracer for correction of removal rates for losses not caused by the STF. A list of organic and inorganic contaminant species, including trace elements representative of runoff from roads is suggested, as well as relevant concentration ranges. The method was used for adding contaminants to three different STFs including a curbstone extension with filter soil, a dual porosity filter, and six different permeable pavements. Evaluation of the method showed that it is possible to add a well-defined mixture of contaminants despite different field conditions by having a flexibly system, mixing different stock-solutions on site, and use bromide tracer for correction of outlet concentrations. Bromide recovery ranged from only 12% in one of the permeable pavements to 97% in the dual porosity filter, stressing the importance of including a conservative tracer for correction of contaminant retention values. The method is considered useful in future treatment performance testing of STFs. The observed performance of the STFs is presented in coming papers.

KW - Curb extension

KW - Dual porosity filter

KW - Field scale testing

KW - Filter soil

KW - Permeable pavements

KW - Road runoff

U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.04.097

DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.04.097

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 28549316

AN - SCOPUS:85019565578

SN - 0301-4797

VL - 198

SP - 107

EP - 117

JO - Journal of Environmental Management

JF - Journal of Environmental Management

IS - Part 2

ER -