Strategies for Enhancing the Efficiency of Bioretention Swales and Basins for Urban Stormwater Management in Temperate Region

Among various schemes to reuse and recycle the limited urban fresh water resources, sustainable urban stormwater management, such as water sensitive urban design and rainwater harvesting, has been recognized as one of the most efficient and economically viable approaches. Storm runoff shall be treated as close as possible to its source before it is reused or discharged into public drainage network or receiving waters to enhance the water environment quality. Bioretention swale/basin, which has been commonly applied to treat runoff from roads, car parks, cyclist and pedestrian paths, rooftops, etc., is recognized to be the most efficient and aesthetic pleasing way to harvest rainwater in urban settings, and other longish shape runoff catchment area. This paper studied over 10 bioretention swales/basins applications in temperate region worldwide covering China, Germany, Norway, Austria, USA, and Australia. Key steps in bioretention swale/basin design and implementation in temperate region were investigated, such as strategic bioretention scheme selection, flow conveyance and hydraulic capacity design, filtering media profile, vegetation scheme selection and maintenance scheme, and suggestion and key design parameters. The critical path and parameters of bioretention swale/basin design which enhanced the effectiveness and efficiency of its application for rainwater harvesting in temperate regions were derived.

URBAN STORMWATER MANGEMENT-AN MS4 SUCCESS STORY FOR WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

Regulation of stormwater runoff is increasing throughout the United States.The Environmental Protection Agency(EPA)and state agencies are beginning to move toward effluent and/or load limits for pollutants in stormwater.Compliance costs for treating urban stormwater runoff,especially in highly-developed areas where retrofits are required,will only continue to increase.

Urban Stormwater Modeling with Local Inertial Approximation Form of Shallow Water Equations: A Comparative Study

This study focused on the performance and limitations of the local inertial approximation form model(LIM)of the shallow water equations(SWEs)when applied in urban flood modeling.A numerical scheme of the LIM equations was created using finite volume method with a first-order spatiotemporal Roe Riemann solver.A simplified urban stormwater model(SUSM)considering surface and underground dual drainage system was constructed based on LIM and the US Environmental Protection Agency Storm Water Management Model.Moreover,a complete urban stormwater model(USM)based on the SWEs with the same solution algorithm was used as the evaluation benchmark.Numerical results of the SUSM and USM in a highly urbanized area under four rainfall return periods were analyzed and compared.The results reveal that the performance of the SUSM is highly consistent with that of the USM but with an improvement in computational efficiency of approximately 140%.In terms of the accuracy of the model,the SUSM slightly underestimates the water depth and velocity and is less accurate when dealing with supercritical flow in urban stormwater flood modeling.Overall,the SUSM can produce comparable results to USM with higher computational efficiency,which provides a simplified and alternative method for urban flood modeling.

Gross Pollutants Study in Urban Areas under Tropical Climates

Gross pollutants are the primary targeted pollutants in urban catchment management for urban water quality improvement as well as mitigation of flood. Apart from aesthetically unattractive because of its visibility, gross pollutants also contributes to degradation of river water quality and loss of aquatic habitat as it carries harmful pollutants such as oxygen demanding material, hydrocarbons and heavy metals. This study analyzed trend of gross pollutant generated from two urban residential areas located in Selangor, Malaysia. The median value of gross pollutant load obtained fi＇om the Amanah Apartment and Bandar Botanic are 347.41 kg/ha/year and 32.46 kg/ha/year, respectively. Relationship between gross pollutant wet load with rainfall depths was derived using regression equation. A significant trend of increasing gross pollutant wet load into drainage system with increasing rainfall depth was observed. The behavior of pollutant load is related to the one observed in Australia.

Adsorption characteristics of a novel ceramsite for heavy metal removal from stormwater runoff

Urban sediments have rapidly increased in recent years around the world,and their effective management has become an important problem.To remove heavy metals from stormwater runoff and use sediments as a resource,a novel ceramsite was developed using sewer pipe sediments(SPS),river bed sediments(RBS),urban water supply treatment sludge(WSTS),and wastewater treatment plant excess sludge(WWTS).The optimal composition was determined based on the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller specific surface area and an orthogonal test design.The adsorption characteristics of the novel ceramsite for dissolved heavy metals(Cu^(2+)and Cd^(2+)) were investigated through adsorption isotherms and kinetic experiments at(25±1)℃.Both Cu^(2+) and Cd^(2+) were effectively removed by the novel ceramsite,and their equilibrium adsorption was 4.96 mg·g^(-1) and 3.84 mg·g^(-1),respectively.Langmuir isotherms and a pseudo-first-order kinetic equation described the adsorption process better than other techniques.Characterization analysis of the ceramsite composition before and after heavy metal adsorption showed that the Cu^(2+) and Cd^(2+) contents in the ceramsite increased after adsorption.The results revealed that adsorption is both a physical and chemical process,and that ceramsite can be used as a bioretention medium to remove heavy metals from stormwater runoff while simultaneously converting problematic urban sediments into a resource.

THE COST OF MANAGING STORMWATER

INTRODUCTION Stormwater has long been recognized as a substantial contributor to water quality impairments.Development has increased the area of impervious surfaces and disrupted the natural flow path for precipitation.In developed areas,large volumes of untreated stormwater runoff increase erosion and pollutant transport to surface waters.Regulators have designed programs to address the water quality impacts of stormwater and regulated entities are in the process of figuring out how to comply with these measures.Financial burden often is cited as a major reason for slow implementation and lack of compliance with stormwater regulations(NRC,2009).Regulated entities have argued that the permit requirements are overly burdensome and unrealistic;however,it is still too early to determine the full financial burden of stormwater regulation.Although the regulations were enacted several years ago(and continue to evolve),many entities are still in the early phases of the implementation process and are trying to determine how to integrate stormwater controls into existing infrastructure.In addition,municipalities often have limited information about the cost of retrofits.The cost of compliance with stormwater regulation is one of the major unknowns facing municipalities and other regulated stormwater dischargers.Regulated entities should expect to incur high costs associated with stormwater controls,especially in areas that are already highly developed.Exactly how high these costs might be is uncertain.This makes it very difficult for decision makers to plan and budget for stormwater controls.As a result,many municipalities have delayed implementing these measures despite increasing pressure from regulators.Entities soon will have to begin financing and implementing stormwater controls.This paper illustrates the lack of,and uncertainty with,cost data available to planners and decision makers and provides an example where a regulated entity applied a localized analysis to cost effectively achieve stormwater reductions and compliance goals.

Uncertainties in stormwater runoff data collection from a small urban catchment, Southeast China

Monitoring data are often used to identify stormwater runoff characteristics and in stormwater runoff modelling without consideration of their inherent uncertainties. Integrated with discrete sample analysis and error propagation analysis, this study attempted to quantify the uncertainties of discrete chemical oxygen demand （COD）, total suspended solids （TSS） concentration, stormwater flowrate, stormwater event volumes, COD event mean concentration （EMC）, and COD event loads in terms of flow measurement, sample collection, storage and laboratory analysis. The results showed that the uncertainties due to sample collection, storage and laboratory analysis of COD from stormwater runoff are 13.99%, 19.48% and 12.28%. Meanwhile, flow measurement uncertainty was 12.82%, and the sample collection uncertainty of TSS from stormwater runoff was 31.63%. Based on the law of propagation of uncertainties, the uncertainties regarding event flow volume, COD EMC and COD event loads were quantified as 7.03%, 10.26% and 18.47%.

Temporal variation of heavy metal pollution in urban stormwater runoff

Stormwater runoff from three types of urban surfaces, a parking lot, a street, and a building roof, was monitored during four rainfall events that occurred in the one-year period from June 2009 to June 2010. The event mean concentrations （EMC） of dissolved copper （Cu）, lead （Pb）, zinc （Zn）, manganese （Mn）, and iron （Fe） exceeded China＇s National Water Quality Standards for Surface Water. The degree of heavy metal contamination was related to the type of underlying surfaces. Additionally, the concentration of dissolved heavy metals peaked shortly after the runoff began and then declined sharply as a result of adequate flushing. First flush effects of varying degrees were also observed during all of the monitored rainfall events based on the first flush ratio （FF25）. Redundancy analysis revealed that four environmental variables （rain- fall depth, intensity, antecedent dry weather period and type of underlying surface） had significant effects on the strengths of the first flush effects, accounting for 72.9% of the variation in the FF25. Dissolved metals presented varying first flush effects on different underlying surfaces that occurred in the following relative order： parking lot 〉 roof〉 road for low intensity and high runoff volume rainfall events; parking lot 〉 road 〉 roof for high intensity and low runoff volume events. The relative strength of the first flush for dissolved heavy metals was Fe, Mn 〉 Cu, Zn 〉 Pb.

Interaction effect of micro-and macro-organic on the biogeochemical function of the sediment and aquatic interface

Constructed stormwater infiltration basins have been broad applied in urban areas in terms of stormwater disposal and compensation of reduced groundwater recharge. However, stormwater derived from sediments accumulating in infiltration beds may act as a source of dissolved contaminants for groundwater. Concentrations of DO, NO3-N, NO2^--N, NH4^＋-N and PO4^3--P were monitored at multiple depth with time. The results showed that the occurrence of denitrificarion was restrained by sediments in term of no invertebrates. Under the conditions of invertebrates inoculated, the concentrations of DO, NO^3--N, NO2^＋-N, NH4^＋-N and PO4^3＋-P varied respectively with time and the occurrence of nitrification and mobilizing nitrate in the sediment. It is concluded that there exist the invertebrate activities such as building tubes and galleries and excreting faecal pellet which may increase water dispersion and enhance accessibility of nutrient, and stimulate microbial process effected in the sediment. Besides, the natural death and rot of worms were also found to be important factors of the invertebrate activities.

Operation and Maintenance Challenges in China“Sponge City”Program

China started a Sponge City program to offset the adverse impacts of urban developments and to tackle many water-related problems.By emphasizing stormwater management practices with“natural solutions”,many positive results have been achieved.The operation and maintenance(O&M)of Sponge City to support long-term success gained considerable focus.China is facing challenges many developed countries have encountered,as well as unique ones due to specific social,economic,and environmental conditions.This study identified and discussed Sponge City O&M challenges:(1)scheduling challenges,(2)technical challenges,(3)in short of local regulation/ordnance,(4)inadequate O&M assessment standard,(5)underprovided training,(6)PPP related concerns,(7)inter-agency coordination needs,(8)ownership and responsible party issues,(9)substandard documentation,and(10)funding and financial concerns.Selected cases and progress in pilot cities are introduced in the discussions.

Quantitative analysis of impact of green stormwater infrastructures on combined sewer overflow control and urban flooding control

Stimulated by the recent USEPA＇s green stormwater infrastructure （GSI） guidance and policies, GS1 systems have been widely implemented in the municipal area to control the combined sewer overflows （CSOs）, also known as low impact development （LID） approaches. To quantitatively evaluate the performance of GSI systems on CSO and urban flooding control, USEPA-Stormwater Management Model （SWMM） model was adopted in this study to simulate the behaviors of GSI systems in a well- developed urban drainage area, PSW45, under different circumstances. The impact of different percentages of stormwater runoff transported from impervious surfaces to the GSI systems on CSO and urban flooding control has also been investigated. Results show that with current buildup, GSI systems in PSW45 have the best performance for low intensity and short duration events on both volume and peak flow reductions, and have the worst pertbrmance tor high intensity and long durataon events. Since the low intensity and short duration events are dominant from a long-term perspective, utilizing GSI systems is considered as an effective measure of CSO control to meet the long-term controlstrategy for PSW45 watershed. However, GSI systems are not suitable for the flooding control purpose in PSW45 due to the high occurrence possibility of urban flooding during or after high intensity events where GSI systems have relatively poor performance no matter for a short or long duration event,

Revealing the characteristics of dissolved organic matter in urban runoff at three typical regions via optical indices and molecular composition

Dissolved organic matter(DOM)plays a major role in ecological systems and influences the fate and transportation of many pollutants.Despite the significance of DOM,understanding of how environmental and anthropogenic factors influence its composition and characteristics is limited,especially in urban stormwater runoff.In this article,the chemical properties(pollutant loads,molecular weight,aromaticity,sources,and molecular composition)of DOM in stormwater extracted from three typical end-members(traffic,residential,and campus regions)were characterized by UV–visible(UV–vis)spectroscopy,excitationemission matrix spectroscopy combined with parallel factor analysis(EEM-PARAFAC),and ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-TOF-MS).There are three findings:(1)The basic properties of DOM in stormwater runoff varied obviously from three urban fields,and the effect of initial flush was also apparent.(2)The DOM in residential areas mainly came from autochthonous sources,while allochthonous sources primarily contributed to the DOM in traffic and campus areas.However,it was mainly composed of terrestrial humic-like components with CHO and CHON element composition and HULO and aliphatic formulas.(3)The parameters characterizing DOM were primarily related to terrestrial source and aromaticity,but their correlations varied.Through the combination of optical methods and UPLC-Q-TOF spectrometry,the optical and molecular characteristics of rainwater are effectively revealed,which may provide a solid foundation for the classification management of stormwater runoff in different urban regions.

Determination of urban runoff coefficient using time series inverse modeling

Runoff coefficient is an important parameter for the decision support of urban stormwater management. However, factors like comprehensive land-use type, variable spatial elevation, dynamic rainfall and groundwater elevation, make the direct estimation of runoff coefficient difficult. This paper presented a novel method to estimate the urban runoff coefficient using the inverse method, where observed time-series catchment outfall flow volume was employed as input for the water balance model and runoff coefficients of different catchments were treated as unknown parameters. A developed constrained minimization objective function was combined to solve the model and minimized error between observed and modeled outfall flow is satisfactory for the presenting of a set of runoff coefficients. Estimated runoff coefficients for the urban catchments in Shanghai downtown area demonstrated that practice of low impact design could play an important role in reducing the urban runoff.

Factors influencing volatile hydrocarbon pollution in urban areas

Volatile hydrocarbons in urban environments pose significant risks to human and ecosystem health,resulting from wash-off into receiving waters during storm events.Effective mitigation strategies require understanding of the significance of contributing factors to pollutant generation and their processes.This study employed Bayesian Network modelling to investigate how anthropogenic and environmental factors influence volatile hydrocarbons build-up.The volatile hydrocarbons investigated were,benzene,toluene,ethylbenzene and xylene and styrene.Most volatile hydrocarbons showed statistically significant relationships with environmental factors rather than with anthropogenic factors.Additionally,the research study found that anthropogenic factors could largely contribute to releasing volatile hydrocarbon into the urban environment,while environmental factors are likely to determine their prevalence.The research outcomes will contribute to improving stormwater quality modelling approaches and strengthen the assessment of risk associated with stormwater pollutants in order to enhance stormwater reuse.

Pollutant concentrations and pollution loads in stormwater runoff from different land uses in Chongqing

To investigate the distribution of pollutant concentrations and pollution loads in stormwater runoff in Chongqing,six typical land use types were selected and studied from August 2009 to September 2011.Statistical analysis on the distribution of pollutant concentrations in all water samples shows that pollutant concentrations fluctuate greatly in rainfall-runoff,and the concentrations of the same pollutant also vary greatly in different rainfall events.In addition,it indicates that the event mean concentrations （EMCs） of total suspended solids （TSS） and chemical oxygen demand （COD） from urban traffic roads （UTR） are significantly higher than those from residential roads （RR）,commercial areas （CA）,concrete roofs （CR）,tile roofs （TRoof）,and campus catchment areas （CCA）;and the EMCs of total phosphorus （TP） and NH3-N from UTR and CA are 2.35-5 and 3 times of the class-III standard values specified in the Environmental Quality Standards for Surface Water （GB 3838-2002）.The EMCs of Fe,Pb and Cd are also much higher than the class-III standard values.The analysis of pollution load producing coefficients （PLPC） reveals that the main pollution source of TSS,COD and TP is UTR.The analysis of correlations between rainfall factors and EMCs/PLPC indicates that rainfall duration is correlated with EMCs/PLPC of TSS for TRoof and TP for UTR,while rainfall intensity is correlated with EMCs/PLPC of TP for both CR and CCA.The results of this study provide a reference for better management of non-point source pollution in urban regions.