Evaluating the spatial distribution of pollutants and associated maintenance requirements in an 11 year-old bioretention cell in urban Charlotte, NC

Johnson, Jeffrey P.; Hunt, William F.

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.10.009

Cited by 40 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…> 3 years old) BCs were spatially heterogeneous. Johnson and Hunt (2016) also observed spatial heterogeneity in the deposition of heavy metals in a BC in Charlotte, NC with excessive amounts of metals concentrating near the BC inlet. These findings suggest that pollutant accumulation and infiltration rates are spatially heterogeneous within a typical BC.…”

Section: Figure 1-1 Conceptual Diagram With the Front View Of The Bcmentioning

confidence: 82%

Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Hydraulic Conductivity, Snow Depth, and Soil Properties of a Bioretention System

Gnanaraj¹,

Drake²

2018

International Low Impact Development Conference 2018

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Bioretention Cells (BC) are a Low Impact Development technology that provide distributed storm water management near to its source. Most research envisages BC as a black box with ambiguous processes between the input and the output. This thesis aims to consider BCs as heterogeneous systems with physical processes that vary both spatially and temporally. For this study, a 5-year-old BC at Kortright Centre for Conservation in Vaughan, Ontario is used as an investigation area. The following results were observed. D30 and D60 were lower in the central flow path due to sedimentation and suspended solids deposition. Organic content was negatively correlated with bulk density. Ksat in the central pathway region and non-central pathway region showed a mild rise during and a mild decrease respectively during warm winter days possibly due to freeze-thaw action. However, after statistical outliers were identified and removed from the Ksat data, this effect was not observed. iii Acknowledgments First and foremost, I would like to thank my Lord Jesus Christ for his grace and blessings throughout this research. I wholeheartedly thank my research supervisor Dr. Jennifer Drake for offering me the opportunity to carry out research. It would not have been possible to produce this thesis without her support, suggestions, constructive feedback, and professionalism. I would also like to thank Dr. Elodie Passeport for providing many helpful suggestions and for being the second reader. I would like to thank the Sustainable Technologies Evaluation Program (STEP) at the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) for providing the Bioretention Cell and for collaborating with me on this research. I would also like to acknowledge TRCA staff Mark Hummel, Jacob Kloeze, Tim Van Seaters, Christy Graham, and Dean Young for technical support and help with field work. Financial support for this work was provided by NSERC, MITACS and the University of Toronto. I would also like to acknowledge undergraduate interns Alexander Tonelli, Eric Wang, Redwan Baba and Diego Domingo for carrying out data collection during the summers of 2017 and 2018. My sincere thanks go to my colleagues

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Section: Figure 1-1 Conceptual Diagram With the Front View Of The Bcmentioning

confidence: 82%

Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Hydraulic Conductivity, Snow Depth, and Soil Properties of a Bioretention System

Gnanaraj¹,

Drake²

2018

International Low Impact Development Conference 2018

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“…Regardless, mass removal rates for both TN and TP were higher during the 2017-2018 monitoring period. This BRC might typify sustainable treatment for extended periods of time, with the caveat of regular maintenance [11,12,25].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The authors observed P saturation within the top 10 cm of filter media after nine years, but estimated that saturation of deeper depths would not occur for 20 years [11]. Similarly, Johnson and Hunt [12] described elevated concentrations of phosphorus, zinc, and copper in the filter media of an 11-year-old BRC, but predicted sustained removal with routine maintenance. Willard et al [13] compared post-construction pollutant removal in a BRC with that which occurred following seven years of service and noted removal of nutrients and sediment during both monitoring periods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Retrospective Comparison of Water Quality Treatment in a Bioretention Cell 16 Years Following Initial Analysis

Johnson

Hunt

2019

Sustainability

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One of the most popular stormwater practices in (sub-)urban North Carolina is bioretention. While bioretention has been researched intensively to determine the most efficient designs, few long-term studies have attempted to assess the performance of older bioretention. However, previous research and design guidance for bioretention has predicted long-term water quality treatment. This study compared discharged concentrations and loads of nitrogen and phosphorus from a bioretention cell (1) post-construction and (2) following 17 years of treatment. A conventionally-drained bioretention cell with lateral underdrains in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA, was first monitored post-construction for 10-months from 2002–2003 and, again following continuous use, for 14 months from 2017–2018. Estimated mass load reductions during the initial monitoring period were 40% for total nitrogen (TN) and 65% for total phosphorus (TP). Mass load reductions were increased 17 years after construction, with reductions of 72% and 79% for TN and TP, respectively. Plant growth, death, and decay over the 17-year life of the bioretention cell are hypothesized to have contributed additional nitrogen assimilation and carbon to the fill media, serving as a catalyst for nitrogen treatment. Phosphorus removal remained relatively unchanged between the two monitoring periods. Filter media samples indicated the top 20 cm of filter media were nearing phosphorus saturation, but with 1.2 m of filter media, lower depths would most likely continue to provide treatment. If designed, built, and maintained correctly, bioretention appears to provide sustained treatment of stormwater runoff for nitrogen and phosphorus for nearly two decades, and likely longer.

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“…Four-year demonstration of a bioretention system modified with an internal water storage zone (Igielski, Kjellerup, & Davis, 2019) achieved effluent total N concentrations of <0.75 mg N L −1 and removed 81% of NO x (NO 3 − + NO 2 − ) (Lopez-Ponnada, Lynn, Ergas, . Testing of an 11-yr-old bioretention cell suggested that P and metals will not accumulate to levels requiring media replacement for the design life of associated development the cell serves (Johnson & Hunt, 2016).…”

Section: Stormwater Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrient control in water bodies: A systems approach

et al. 2020

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Nutrient pollution is considered a wicked problem because of its many significant economic, social, and environmental impacts that are caused by multiple pollutants originating from a variety of sources and pathways that exist across different temporal and spatial scales. Further adding to the difficulty in managing nutrient pollution is that it is a global, rural, and urban problem. A systems approach can improve nutrient management by incorporating technological, environmental, and societal considerations. This approach can consider valuation of monetized and nonmonetized cobenefits and the inherent consequences that make up a nutrient management program.In this introduction to a special collection of papers on nutrient pollution, we describe several systems frameworks that can be used to support nutrient management and evaluation of system performance as it relates to impacts, then highlight several attributes and barriers of nutrient management that point to the need for a systems framework, and conclude with thoughts on implementing systems approaches to nutrient management with effective community engagement and use of new technologies. This special collection presents results from a USEPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) initiative to advance solutions to nutrient pollution through innovative and sustainable research and demonstration projects for nutrient management based on a systems approach. These studies evaluate several promising nutrient control technologies for stormwater or domestic wastewater, investigate the effects of agricultural conservation practices and stream restoration strategies on nutrient loads, and discuss several challenges and opportunities-social, policy, institutional, and financial considerationsthat can accelerate adoption of reliable technologies to achieve system-level outcomes.

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Evaluating the spatial distribution of pollutants and associated maintenance requirements in an 11 year-old bioretention cell in urban Charlotte, NC

Cited by 40 publications

References 36 publications

Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Hydraulic Conductivity, Snow Depth, and Soil Properties of a Bioretention System

Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Hydraulic Conductivity, Snow Depth, and Soil Properties of a Bioretention System

A Retrospective Comparison of Water Quality Treatment in a Bioretention Cell 16 Years Following Initial Analysis

Nutrient control in water bodies: A systems approach

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