Urban Runoff Quality Characterization and Load Estimation in Saskatoon, Canada
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 11
Abstract
The improvement in the effluent quality of the treated sanitary sewage entering the South Saskatchewan River at Saskatoon, Canada, and the impending change in provincial legislation governing urban runoff, provided the impetus for Saskatchewan Environment to initiate the stormwater runoff quality study reported in this paper. Among others, the study involved a field program for characterizing the urban runoff water quality from four catchments, each representing a different type of land use. Both a site mean concentration approach and a multiple variable regression analysis approach were used to quantify the pollutant load contained within the runoff. Thereafter, using the runoff water quality characterizations developed in the study, rainfall–runoff pollutant loads from the entire city were estimated and compared with two local point sources to the receiving stream. On the basis of this analysis, it was found that urban runoff contributes more total suspended solids and total Kjeldahl nitrogen load, similar chemical oxygen demand load, and slightly less total phosphorus load than the two local point sources.
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Acknowledgments
The financial and in-kind support provided by the City of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Environment, and the Meewasin Valley Authority are gratefully acknowledged. In addition, the cooperation and analytical services of the Saskatchewan Health Provincial Water Laboratory, City of Saskatoon Utilities Services Laboratory, and the Environmental Engineering Laboratory, University of Saskatchewan, are greatly appreciated. Special thanks are extended to Doug Fisher, who made valuable contributions to the laboratory analyses conducted at the University of Saskatchewan, and to Kevin Sturgeon and Gordon Liang who assisted with the field sampling program. The data provided by Akzo Nobel Chemicals Ltd. for discharge load comparison purposes is also acknowledged. The writers also thank the reviewers of the manuscript for the thoughtful and informative comments, which have helped to improve the quality of the document.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 11 • November 2006
Pages: 1470 - 1481
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 14, 2004
Accepted: Jan 3, 2006
Published online: Nov 1, 2006
Published in print: Nov 2006
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