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

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.

Aluminum Oxide-Coated Sand for Improved Treatment of Urban Stormwater.

Infiltration facilities for urban stormwater runoff, such as biofilters, rain gardens, and curb extensions, typically contain an engineered soil mixture for effective drainage and retention of pollutants. The treatment efficiency of such soils is generally considered high for many pollutants. However, recent studies have revealed that in situ mobilization of soil organic matter may cause leaching of a range of pollutants and therefore diminish the long-term performance of engineered soils. The purpose of this study was to develop and test sand coated with aluminum (Al) oxides for improving the retention of organic matter and a range of common pollutants in engineered soils. Two alternative Al-coating methods were successfully developed in the laboratory. The Al coating of the sand increased the specific surface area from 0.3 to 1.1 m g to 0.87 to 2.2 m g depending on sand fraction. One method was upscaled to produce 100 kg coated sand. The stability of the coatings was studied in batch experiments. Dry shaking showed a high resistance of the coating against mechanical stress. Increasing the ionic strength by the addition of NaCl seemed to improve the stability of the coatings. Varying pH showed that acidic conditions could compromise the Al coating stability. Overall, one coating method showed slightly better results in terms of higher surface area and stability. The Al coating significantly improved the retention capacity of the sand toward dissolved organic carbon. The results document that it is possible to coat sand effectively with Al oxides and consequently to improve the retention capacity and lifetime of engineered soils for urban stormwater management.

Assessment of existing roadside swales with engineered filter soil: I. Characterization and lifetime expectancy.

Roadside infiltration swales with well-defined soil mixtures (filter soil) for the enhancement of both infiltration and treatment of stormwater runoff from roads and parking areas have been common practice in Germany for approximately two decades. Although the systems have proven hydraulically effective, their treatment efficiency and thus lifetime expectancies are not sufficiently documented. The lack of documentation restricts the implementation of new such systems in Germany as well as other countries. This study provides an assessment of eight roadside infiltration swales with filter soil from different locations in Germany that have been operational for 6 to16 yr. The swales were assessed with respect to visual appearance, infiltration rate, soil pH, and soil texture, as well as soil concentration of organic matter, heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn), and phosphorus. Visually, the swales appeared highly variable with respect to soil color and textural layering as well as composition of plants and soil-dwelling organisms. Three swales still comply with the German design criteria for infiltration rate (10 m/s), while the remaining swales have lower, yet acceptable, infiltration rates around 10 m/s. Six of the eight studied soils have heavy metal concentrations exceeding the limit value for unpolluted soil. Provided that the systems are able to continuously retain existing and incoming pollutants, our analysis indicates that the soils can remain operational for another 13 to 136 yr if the German limit values for unrestricted usage in open construction works are applied. However, no official guidelines exist for acceptable soil quality in existing infiltration facilities.

Assessment of existing roadside swales with engineered filter soil: II. Treatment efficiency and in situ mobilization in soil columns.

Use of roadside infiltration systems using engineered filter soil for optimized treatment has been common practice in Germany for decades, but little documentation is available regarding their long-term treatment performance. Here we present the results of laboratory leaching experiments with intact soil columns (15 cm i.d., 25-30 cm length) collected from two German roadside infiltration swales constructed in 1997. The columns were irrigated with synthetic solutions of unpolluted or polluted (dissolved heavy metals and fine suspended solids) road runoff, as well as a soluble nonreactive tracer (bromide) and a dye (brilliant blue). The experiments were performed at two irrigation rates corresponding to catchment rainfall intensities of approximately 5.1 and 34 mm/h. The bromide curves indicated that preferential flow was more pronounced at high irrigation rates, which was supported by the flow patterns revealed in the dye tracing experiment. Nonetheless, the soils seemed to be capable of retaining most of the dissolved heavy metals from the polluted road runoff at both low and high irrigation rates, except for Cr, which appears to pass through the soil as chromate. Fluorescent microspheres (diameter = 5 µm) used as surrogates for fine suspended solids were efficiently retained by the soils (>99%). However, despite promising treatment abilities, internal mobilization of heavy metals and P from the soil was observed, resulting in potentially critical effluent concentrations of Cu, Zn, and Pb. This is mainly ascribed to high concentrations of in situ mobilized dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Suggestions are provided for possible improvements and further research to minimize DOC mobilization in engineered filter soils.

Dual Porosity Filtration for treatment of stormwater runoff: first proof of concept from Copenhagen pilot plant.

Dual Porosity Filtration (DPF) is designed for sedimentation-based removal of suspended solids (SS) and adsorption-based removal of dissolved contaminants from stormwater runoff. It consists of shallow (10 mm) low-porosity layers for contaminant retention, interlaid with high-porosity layers for horizontal, gravity-driven flow. First proof of concept was obtained in a 10 m by 60 m pilot plant receiving stormwater runoff from 1.3 hectares of trafficked area in Copenhagen. The pilot plant contains two versions of DPF-designs, a cheaper one with 6 pairs of low- and high-porosity layers ('DPF-6-layers'), and a more expensive one with 18 such pairs ('DPF-18-layers'). Both versions are designed for a flow capacity of 9 m(3)/h. The DPF-designs were tested on the basis of 25 rain events. Flow proportional event mean concentrations showed the concentration of SS to be on averaged reduced from 123 mg/L in the inlet to 10.4 mg/L in the outlet from the DPF-6-layers, and 1.4 mg/L from DPF-18-layers, Zn from 98 to 29 and 12.5 µg/L, Cu from 25 to 12.2 and 9.6 µg/L, Cr from 18 to 10.9 and 10 µg/L, Pb from 9 to 1.0 and 0.2 µg/L, and P from 178 µg/L to 47.4 µg/L and 38 µg/L, respectively for the DPF-6-layers and DFF-18-layers. Based on the observed hydraulic performance and contaminant removal rates the concept of DPF appears to hold a potential for treatment of road runoff to high water quality standards. Cu and Cr fate must be further studied. Suggestions for optimized full scale DPF-designs are given.

Full-scale removal of arsenate and chromate from water using a limestone and ochreous sludge mixture as a low-cost sorbent material.

The oxyanions arsenate (AsO4(3-)) and chromate (CrO4(2-)) are major freshwater contaminants. Arsenate is a problematic contaminant in drinking water reservoirs, and chromate limits the use of urban stormwater runoff. High-capacity, low-cost, energy-efficient treatment technologies are required for the removal of these toxic anions from freshwater sources. Using a 50-m-long dual porosity filter, with limestone as filtering grains, treating stormwater runoff from Copenhagen, Denmark, we tested if addition of the waste product ochreous sludge can improve the removal of arsenate (As) and chromate (Cr) without compromising the calcite's removal affinity fowards metallic cations. Upon on-site embedding of the ochreous sludge, removal of arsenic and chromium was improved greatly, and copper (Cu) removal remained high. Steady-state effluent concentrations were reduced from 31 to 2 microg As/L, 127 to 1.5 microg Cr/L, and 18 to 9.6 microg Cu/L upon mixing with the ochreous sludge. Limestone-ochreous sludge represents a promising low-cost oxyanion and cation sorbent operating at neutral pH without pH control.