Pollution Removal Performance of Laboratory Simulations of Sydney’s Street Stormwater Biofilters
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Soil Columns
2.2. Synthetic Stormwater
2.3. Column Performance Experimental Method
- 1.
- Purging: To limit background column “noise”, naturally occurring soluble ions were purged from the soil column using deionised-water flushing until the three-day median for electrical conductivity (EC), a proxy for ion content, fell to 5% of that of the synthetic stormwater. This typically took eight consecutive days for a fill that is compliant with City of Sydney biofilter material specifications, as discussed later. Post-purge draining for 16 h resulted in a median mass reduction of 70% reducing the risk of potential dilution of pollutants in the synthetic stormwater.
- 2.
- Dosing: Each primary column was dosed with 1.1 L of synthetic stormwater per hour based on the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity rate for the soil column, as determined by a Decagon Devices® mini disk portable tension infiltrometer. For each experimental run, dosing was maintained for three hours based on the dosing regime established elsewhere for effective cation capture [25,32], which complied with recorded median rainfall duration for the years 2010 to 2013 [33]. It must be noted that the dosing cycle was based principally on hydraulic and not climatological considerations given the endemically high rainfall variability on the Eastern seaboard relating to the El Nino Southern Oscillation, reducing the reliability of rainfall prediction since the year 2000 [34].
- 3.
- Sample removal: A representative aliquot of the water drained from each column during each 19 h event was bottled for transport and analysis in compliance with Standard Methods [39]. In terms of quality control, no significant difference was noted in the level of individual pollutants taken at different stages of the sampling cycle (with the exception of copper), although a risk of dilution of “new” water with “old” water (such as purge) remaining in the biphasic columns has been reported in the literature [40]. Initial high copper release may, however, have been an artefact resulting from the leaching of nutrients and metals from organic material in the columns, offsetting the dilution of pollutants by residual purge water in initial column runs. The amount of water that was retained in the saturation sump wasshown to be <0.64 L by experimentation; offering potentially low dilution.
2.4. Laboratory Analysis, Data Capture and Statistical Analysis
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Nutrient Removal: Total Nitrogen (TN) and Total Phosphorus (TP)
3.2. Heavy Metal Removal
3.2.1. Dissolved-Phase Heavy Metals
3.2.2. Suspended- or Settled-Phase Heavy Metals
3.3. Total Suspended Solids (SS) Release
4. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Water Quality Parameter | Development Control Plan (DCP) Removal Target | Botany Bay Water Quality Improvement Plan (BBWQIP) Removal Target |
---|---|---|
Total Nitrogen (TN) | 45% | 45% |
Total Phosphorus (TP) | 65% | 60% |
Total Suspended Solids (SS) | 85% | 80% |
Gross Pollutants | 90% (>5 mm) | 90% (>5 mm) |
Pollutant Parameter | Source Compounds in Synthetic Stormwater | Pollutant Concentrationin Synthetic Stormwater (mg/L) | Pollutant Concentration (Median) after Biofiltration (mg/L) | Removal Efficiency (Median) for Biofiltration Simulation (%) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mono-Phasic | Bi-Phasic | Mono-Phasic | Bi-Phasic | |||
TN | Ammonium, nickel and lead nitrates | 16.19 | 2.58 | 1.78 | 84.1 | 89.0 |
TP | Trisodium phosphate | 10.00 | 2.22 | 3.15 | 77.8 | 68.5 |
Zn | Zinc chloride | 0.690 | 0.098 | 0.103 | 85.8 | 85.1 |
Cu | Copper sulphate | 0.140 | 0.044 | 0.042 | 68.6 | 70.0 |
Ni | Nickel nitrate | 0.070 | 0.006 | 0.008 | 91.4 | 88.6 |
Cd | Cadmium chloride | 0.013 | 0.0004 | 0.0003 | 96.9 | 97.7 |
Pb | Lead nitrate | 0.300 | 0.024 | 0.025 | 92.0 | 91.8 |
Cr | Potassium chromate | 0.050 | 0.006 | 0.004 | 88.0 | 92.0 |
Biofilter Layer and Liner | Specification (Based on FAWB Guidelines [61]) |
---|---|
Mulch | Washed aggregate, 10 mm to 20 mm grade |
Filtration | Sandy loam mix, with saturate hydraulic conductivity > 100 mm/h to 300 mm/h. Total clay and silt content < 3%. Organic content < 5% |
Transitional | Washed, recycled glass-sand, or coarse washed river sand with little or no fines |
Drainage | No-fines drainage gravel, 2 mm to 5 mm grade |
Outer liner | Concrete |
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Macnamara, J.; Derry, C. Pollution Removal Performance of Laboratory Simulations of Sydney’s Street Stormwater Biofilters. Water 2017, 9, 907. https://doi.org/10.3390/w9110907
Macnamara J, Derry C. Pollution Removal Performance of Laboratory Simulations of Sydney’s Street Stormwater Biofilters. Water. 2017; 9(11):907. https://doi.org/10.3390/w9110907
Chicago/Turabian StyleMacnamara, James, and Chris Derry. 2017. "Pollution Removal Performance of Laboratory Simulations of Sydney’s Street Stormwater Biofilters" Water 9, no. 11: 907. https://doi.org/10.3390/w9110907