Stormwater Management and Roadways

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel Pickering ◽  
Somayeh Nassiri
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Stormwater Management ◽  
Coho Salmon ◽  
Aquatic Toxicity ◽  
Algal Growth ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lead Contamination ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Natural Treatment ◽  
Linear Nature

Nonpoint source pollution is common in highly developed areas worldwide, degrading downstream water quality conditions and causing algal growth, aquatic toxicity, and sometimes fish kills. Stormwater runoff that results from rainfall or snowmelt events creates high-flow runoff from impervious surfaces and adjacent areas transporting multiple pollutants to the receiving waters. Although water quality regulations in the developed world have been effective in cleaning up wastewater discharges, their success with remediating stormwater discharges has not been consistent. An exploration of the sources, characteristics, and treatment of roadway runoff, a type of runoff that can be toxic and more difficult to manage because of the linear nature of the road network, is necessary. Since 1975, there have been more than 50 major roadway studies quantifying the sources and types of runoff contaminants like sediment, metals, inorganic salts, and organic compounds. Vehicle sources of pollutants are considered the most pernicious of all roadway contaminants, with brakes and tires being major sources. In the last decade, the leachate from tire wear particles has been linked to toxicity in coho salmon. Nonstructural stormwater management minimizes contamination by using source controls; for example, the elimination of almost all lead in automotive fuel has reduced roadway lead contamination significantly and the introduction of low-copper brake pads in the United States is expected to reduce roadway copper contamination over time. Structural stormwater management practices treat contaminated roadway runoff using small natural treatment systems; this is due in large part to the linear nature of roadways that makes larger regional systems more difficult. Since 2000, treatment performance has improved; however, there is still a great need for further improvement. Suggestions for treatment improvements include designing with low maintenance in mind; applying machine learning to the existing data; improving the understanding of road-land pollutant dynamics; using a transdisciplinary applied research approach to identify the means to improve treatment and reduce toxicity; improving the media used in treatment systems to enhance performance; improving structural strength of permeable pavement; and increasing implementation by facilitating ways to allow/encourage small, effective, and less costly alternatives.

scholarly journals Engineering Analysis of Plant and Fungal Contributions to Bioretention Performance

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Taylor ◽  
Jill Wetzel ◽  
Emma Mudrock ◽  
Kennith King ◽  
James Cameron ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Stormwater Management ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Ecological Engineering ◽  
State Department ◽  
The United States ◽  
Washington State ◽  
Long Term Treatment ◽  
Washington State Department ◽  
The Impact

While the use of bioretention for stormwater management is widespread, data about the impacts of plants and microorganisms on long-term treatment efficacy remain region-specific. To help address this knowledge gap for the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, we installed twelve under-drained bioretention mesocosms built to Washington State Department of Ecology stormwater management standards in an urban watershed in Seattle, WA that included a busy portion of Interstate 5. Six mesocosms were planted with Pacific ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus) and six were inoculated with the wine cap mushroom (Stropharia rugoso-annulata) resulting in four replicated factorial treatments. Because region-specific studies must be mindful of the prevailing regulatory framework, all mesocosms used the Washington State Department of Ecology design standard soil: a blend of 60% sand and 40% compost by volume, despite the known leaching problems with high compost volume fraction soils. Five water quality sampling events over 15 months of continuous stormwater loading were analyzed for dozens of water quality parameters. Multiple linear regression analyses of treatment differences over the 400-day loading period illustrate that incorporating fungi into the wood mulch slowed the release of total and ortho-phosphorus from the bioretention soil; however net export of phosphorus from this compost rich media continued through 400 days of loading for all treatments. Multivariate ordination methods illustrate that time and temperature dramatically affect performance of this media, but the impact of planting and fungal inoculation had marginal detectible effects on overall water quality during the study timeframe. These results demonstrate that future studies of this media blend must plan for at least one year of nutrient and metal leaching before the time-dependent heterogenous variance introduced by these exports will no longer pose an obstacle to analysis of other performance changing factors. The results highlight important physical and chemical considerations for this media blend, and the opportunity for continued research on the use of fungal inoculated mulch application as a new ecological engineering tool for reducing phosphorus leaching from soils.

Factors affecting water quality in selected carbonate aquifers in the United States,1993-2005

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce D. Lindsey ◽  
Marian P. Berndt ◽  
Brian G. Katz ◽  
Ann F. Ardis ◽  
Kenneth A. Skach
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Carbonate Aquifers

Use of Biomonitoring to Control Toxics in the United States

1988 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 101-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelson A. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Chronic Toxicity ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Toxicity Tests ◽  
Toxic Pollutants ◽  
Receiving Waters ◽  
Biological Field

A biomonitoring program has been developed in support of the National Policy for the Development of Water Quality-Based Permit Limitations for Toxic Pollutants. The program focuses on the use of laboratory toxicity tests on aquatic plants and animals to predict ecosystem impact caused by toxic pollutants. Both acute and chronic toxicity tests were developed to test effluents and ambient waters. Laboratory and biological field studies were conducted at nine sites. Single species laboratory toxicity tests were found to be good predictors of impacts on the ecosystem when two or more species were used. Biomonitoring can be undertaken either on effluents and/or on the receiving waters. In that toxicity related to seeps, leachates and storm sewers has often been found upstream from dischargers, it is beneficial to conduct both effluent and ambient biomonitoring.

Habitat Elements in River Basin Management and Planning

1987 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 19-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin E. Herricks ◽  
Maria I. Braga
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
River Basin ◽  
River Basin Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Physical Habitat ◽  
Basin Management ◽  
Habitat Analysis ◽  
Management Procedures ◽  
Habitat Simulation ◽  
Flow Quantity

Comprehensive river basin management mast move beyond narrowly focused programs dealing with water quantity or water quality. A more comprehensive approach to river basin management recognizes that both flow quantity and water quality can be summarized as habitat measures. A number of well developed physical habitat analysis and prediction procedures are presently available. Several computerized systems available from the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service (Habitat Suitability Index - HSI and PHysical HABitat SIMulation - PHABSIM) provide macrohabitat definition. We have developed a water quality based habitat component which operates effectively for general analysis. With an emphasis on site specific management in the United States, the macrohabitat definition procedures may not meet all river basin management and planning requirements. This paper reviews the results of research which characterizes microhabitat in streams and rivers and provides a valuable extension to basin management procedures.

The Difficulties and Promise of an Interagency Public Information Campaign for Water Quality Issues

1993 ◽  
Vol 28 (3-5) ◽  
pp. 65-68
Author(s):  
Michelle Miller
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Public Information ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Information Campaign ◽  
Department Of Agriculture ◽  
Voluntary Programs ◽  
University Of Wisconsin ◽  
Quality Issues ◽  
State And Local

The following case study addresses the difficulties and promise of developing a statewide interagency public information campaign to raise general awareness of water quality issues and governmental programs to address them. Due to only moderate success of voluntary programs to curb nonpoint source pollution, agencies are looking toward information and education programs to motivate the public toward conservation behavior. One of the biggest obstacles in developing an effective information/education program is institutional barriers to interagency cooperation, mirroring difficulties local conservationists encounter in their work to restore and maintain water quality at the watershed level. Cooperation between federal agencies, and resource commitment to public information is necessary at the federal level, as well as state and local levels. Agencies involved to date include the United States Department of Agriculture-Soil Conservation Service; Wisconsin State Departments of Natural Resources, and Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and Administration; University of Wisconsin-Extension; Wisconsin Land Conservation Association.

Modelling of water quality-based emission limits for industrial discharges in rivers

1999 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 185-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. J. Ragas ◽  
R. S. E. W. Leuven
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Input Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mixing Zone ◽  
Pollutant Loads ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Emission Limits ◽  
Modelling Of Water Quality ◽  
Upstream Flow

Water authorities apply a diversity of models and input data to set water quality-based emission limits in discharge permits. To illustrate the consequences of model and data selection, two complete mixing models and four mixing zone models used in Germany, the United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands and the United States of America (USA) were selected and applied to various discharges of cadmium. The maximum allowable annual cadmium load was calculated for each model and diverging input data for upstream flow, upstream concentration, effluent flow and effluent concentration. Due to model selection, differences in pollutant loads amounted to a factor 3. Harmonisation of the derivation of water quality-based emission limits is necessary to prevent widely divergent pollutant loads under comparable environmental conditions.

scholarly journals Picking Up Where the TMDL Leaves Off: Using the Partnership Wild and Scenic River Framework for Collaborative River Restoration

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1878
Author(s):  
Alan R. Hunt ◽  
Meiyin Wu ◽  
Tsung-Ta David Hsu ◽  
Nancy Roberts-Lawler ◽  
Jessica Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Bacterial Contamination ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Clean Water Act ◽  
The United States ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Private Land ◽  
The Public ◽  
Wild And Scenic Rivers

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act protects less than ¼ of a percent of the United States’ river miles, focusing on free-flowing rivers of good water quality with outstandingly remarkable values for recreation, scenery, and other unique river attributes. It predates the enactment of the Clean Water Act, yet includes a clear anti-degradation principle, that pollution should be reduced and eliminated on designated rivers, in cooperation with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state pollution control agencies. However, the federal Clean Water Act lacks a clear management framework for implementing restoration activities to reduce non-point source pollution, of which bacterial contamination impacts nearly 40% of the Wild and Scenic Rivers. A case study of the Musconetcong River, in rural mountainous New Jersey, indicates that the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act can be utilized to mobilize and align non-governmental, governmental, philanthropic, and private land-owner resources for restoring river water quality. For example, coordinated restoration efforts on one tributary reduced bacterial contamination by 95%, surpassing the TMDL goal of a 93% reduction. Stakeholder interviews and focus groups indicated widespread knowledge and motivation to improve water quality, but resource constraints limited the scale and scope of restoration efforts. The authors postulate that the Partnership framework, enabled in the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, facilitated neo-endogenous rural development through improving water quality for recreational usage, whereby bottom-up restoration activities were catalyzed via federal designation and resource provision. However, further efforts to address water quality via voluntary participatory frameworks were ultimately limited by the public sector’s inadequate funding and inaction with regard to water and wildlife resources in the public trust.

scholarly journals Assessing Anthracene and Arsenic Contamination within Buffalo River Sediments

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Gawedzki ◽  
K. Wayne Forsythe
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Spatial Interpolation ◽  
River Sediments ◽  
The United States ◽  
Arsenic Contamination ◽  
Industrial Activity ◽  
Interpolation Technique ◽  
History Of ◽  
Buffalo River ◽  
Area Of Concern

Anthracene and arsenic contamination concentrations at various depths in the Buffalo River were analyzed in this study. Anthracene is known to cause damage to human skin and arsenic has been linked to lung and liver cancer. The Buffalo River is labelled as an Area of Concern defined by the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between Canada and the United States. It has a long history of industrial activity located in its near vicinity that has contributed to its pollution. An ordinary kriging spatial interpolation technique was used to calculate estimates between sample locations for anthracene and arsenic at various depths. The results show that both anthracene and arsenic surface sediment (0–30 cm) is less contaminated than all subsurface depths. There is variability of pollution within the different subsurface levels (30–60 cm, 60–90 cm, 90–120 cm, 120–150 cm) and along the river course, but major clusters are identified throughout all depths for both anthracene and arsenic.

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