Stormwater infiltration and surface runoff pollution reduction performance of permeable pavement layers

Abstract

In this paper, the laboratory-scale permeable pavement layers, including a surface permeable brick layer, coarse sand bedding layers (thicknesses = 2, 3.5, and 5 cm), and single-graded gravel sub-base layers (thicknesses = 15, 20, 25, and 30 cm), were built to evaluate stormwater infiltration and surface runoff pollution reduction performance. And, the infiltration rate (I) and concentrations of suspended solids (SS), total phosphorus (TP), chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen, and total nitrogen (TN) were measured under the simulated rainfall intensity of 72.4 mm/h over duration of 60 min. The results indicate that the thickness factor primarily influences the infiltration rate and pollutant removal rate. The highest steady infiltration rate was for surface brick layer 51.0 mm/h, for 5-cm sand bedding layer 32.3 mm/h, and for 30-cm gravel sub-base layer 42.3 mm/h, respectively. The SS average removal rate was relative higher (79.8 ∼ 98.6 %) for all layers due to the interception and filtration. The average removal rates of TP and COD were for surface layer 71.2 and 24.1 %, for 5-cm bedding layer 54.8 and 9.0 %, and for 20-cm sub-base layer 72.2 and 26.1 %. Ammonia nitrogen and TN cannot steadily be removed by layers according to the experiment results. The optimal thickness of bedding sands was 5 cm, and that of sub-base gravels was 20 ∼ 30 cm.

Comparison of the Decontamination Performance of Three Permeable Bricks: Adsorption and Filtration Experiments

“…The ceramic permeable brick had the best filtering effect on SS of the three bricks, and research has found that the physical interception of the surface layer inside the permeable brick played a major role in the removal of SS [2,18], which were mainly filtered by the voids and pores inside the permeable bricks, and the chord size distribution that can be used to characterize the size of the voids and pores was further researched [28]. The chord size was used to represent the size of the pores, and the chord length frequency was used to represent the number of pores.…”

“…(f, g, h). The heavy metals were usually removed along with the filtering of the SS by the permeable bricks [2,14,15,18,31,32]; therefore, the removal rates of Zn, Cu and Pb were also relatively high. Due to the different binding abilities between the heavy metals and particles in the runoff, the removal rates of Zn, Cu and Pb by several packing systems were inconsistent [33].…”

“…The first is the dissolution and emission of ammonia nitrogen from the brick materials, and the more important reason is the poor adsorption capacity of the particles themselves to ammonia nitrogen. The removal of NH 4 + -N was mainly due to adsorption and ion exchange of the ammonia nitrogen by the permeable brick [2,15,18], and the dissolved ammonia ions were difficult for the permeable bricks to filter and retain [18].…”

“…Studies have shown that surface-permeable bricks have different removal efficiencies for different pollutants. For example, ceramic permeable brick could effectively remove 79.8% of suspended solids (SS) and 74.2% of TP in runoff, while it had little effect on the COD, NH4+-N and TN, with removal rates of 24.1%, 3.25% and 3.25%, respectively [18]. The removal efficiencies vary widely, and it is clear that the removal mechanism is also very different; more attention should be focused on the removal mechanism and influence.…”

Community-Based Social Marketing—Creating Lasting, Sustainable, Environmental Change: Case Study of a Household Stormwater Management Program in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario

“…For permeability and reduction of runoff, installation of rain barrels, permeable pavement, and rain gardens are common effective options (Niu, Lv, Zhang, & Cui, 2016). Other yard renovations include infiltration beds, cisterns, and weeping tiles, all of which help to increase permeability and hold water on the property for slow release (Zimmer, Heathcote, Whiteley, & Schroeter, 2007).…”