Balancing biodiversity outcomes and pollution management in urban stormwater treatment wetlands

This paper aimed to analyze the pollutant loading composition of suspended solids, nitrogen and phosphorus in urban stormwater at Cameron Highlands which known as popular tourism, agriculture and function as reservoir water to generate electricity. Researchers found the urban stormwater quantity modeling has achieved sufficient accuracy benchmark. However, modeling stormwater runoff quality is relatively difficult and largely depends on catchment characteristics/land-uses. Model of Urban Stormwater Improvement Conceptualization (MUSIC) estimates pollutant transport from catchments and stormwater treatment through different application of Best Management Practices (BMPs). Result obtained from the observed and calculated data was compared with MUSIC's estimations under a similar scenario where no applications of BMPs. As a second scenario, series of treatment train is propose for each sub-catchments based on the suitability and verification on site that consists of constructed stormwater treatment BMPs (wetlands, bio-retention, on-site detention, sediment basin and gross pollutant traps). Implementation of BMPs reduce nearly 100% of gross pollutant, 65% - 83% TSS, 40% - 66% TP and 52% - 78% due to effectiveness of BMPs in treating the pollutant within different landuse. As a summary, MUSIC can conceptually determine the effectiveness of BMPs without giving a detailed design.

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Monitoring efficiency of urban stormwater treatment devices: discrete-sampling vs. diffusive gradient in a thin film technique

Water Practice & Technology ◽

10.2166/wpt.2007.051 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

Author(s):

S. A. Trowsdale ◽

G. C. Arnold

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Traditional Approach ◽

Stormwater Treatment ◽

Urban Stormwater ◽

Event Mean Concentration ◽

Discrete Sample ◽

Zn Concentration ◽

Thin Film Technique ◽

The Cost ◽

Mean Concentration

Monitoring the hydrochemical efficiency of urban stormwater treatment devices is not straightforward as the traditional, automated, discrete-sample approach is time-consuming and logistically expensive. An alternative monitoring technique, diffusive gradient in thin film (DGT), was tested alongside the traditional approach at an urban stormwater treatment basin. Pb concentrations in runoff were low to negligible, and the basin had little measurable effect. Using log-transformed Event Mean Concentration (EMC) the basin was calculated to reduce the Cu and Zn concentration by 39 and 51% respectively, but high variability meant there was no statistical evidence of a reduction. The DGT measurements not only suggested a higher efficiency for the basin (77% for Cu, 72% for Zn), but were also less variable providing confidence in the result. Simple modelling implied that the concentration in baseflow fluctuated. The cost effectiveness and low variability of the DGT technique may make it suited to the monitoring requirements of the stormwater industry.

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