Use Of A Stormwater Filtration Device For Reducing Contaminants In Runoff From A Parking Lot In Madison Wisconsin 2005 07 PDF Download

Stormwater has become the major pollution source to the receiving water bodies in many urban areas due to increased development and improved control of point source pollution. Polluted urban stormwater contains a number of hazardous constituents, such as heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). These pollutants are to a considerable extent associated with solids and can therefore be removed from the stormwater through sedimentation and particle attachment to aquatic vegetation. Due to this fact, filtration has frequently been used as a method for the treatment of stormwater. Information regarding particle characteristics and associated pollutants in stormwater is therefore of great importance to engineers involved of the design of Best Management Practices (BMPs). There are two objectives of this research. The first one was to investigate the inflow and outflow particle characteristics (such as Particle size distribution (PSD), Volume distribution, Suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and Total suspended solids (TSS)) associated with various filtration BMPs throughout Austin, TX that receive stormwater drainage from a highway and parking lots. The BMP used at these sites were the sedimentation filters also known as Austin sand filter and a sand beach bio-filtration pond. The PSD of commercial and multi family residential zone runoff was measured in four storm events in 2009 rainy season. An experimental protocol was developed to measure the PSD carried by street runoff and to achieve repeatable and reliable results. Measurements of particle characteristics at the filter inflow and outflow for several storm events were carried out. The influent and effluent samples were taken at different time intervals for each storm events. A total of 72 grab samples were analyzed from the three monitoring sites. In each storm event the, particle concentration decreased rapidly in the early part of the storm and then declined more slowly throughout the storm. Particle concentration was correlated with total suspended solids. The second objective was to compare the performance of several types of filtration systems --City of Austin sand filter (COA), COA biofilter mix, and a biofilter with mortar sand media that is consistent with the filtration recommendations of the Facility for Advancing Water Biofiltration (FAWB). The Facility for Advancing Water Biofiltration (FAWB) was formed in Australia in mid-2005 as an unincorporated joint venture between the Institute for Sustainable Water Resources (ISWR), Monash University and EDAW Australia (previously Ecological Engineering). The COA sand filter is currently used at numerous sites in Austin whereas the other two designs are experimental.