Utility of Suspended Solid Measurements for Storm-Water Runoff Treatment
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 9
Abstract
In this paper alternative solutions are presented to solve problems associated with the measurement of total suspended solids (TSS) in storm-water runoff. Results revealed that the accuracy of TSS measurement is largely related to sample representativeness, particle size distribution (PSD), sampling pipette position, and sample mixing. In general, when the PSD in the runoff was mostly larger than , the most accurate and reproducible results were obtained when samples were collected from a position of mid-depth and midway between the walls of the beaker and the vortex and mixed at speeds in the range of . For runoff samples with a PSD smaller than , mixing at a higher rpm is not a significant factor. As long as the PSD in the TSS subsample is representative of the original sample, a strong correlation between TSS and suspended solid concentration can be achieved. The results showed that density was largely correlated with the organic content of the particles, and, in general, smaller particles tended to have a lower density. The density results revealed that assuming a single sand size density of for storm-water runoff produced a large error in the computation of sediment load and particle settling velocity.
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Acknowledgments
This study was funded by the California Department of Transportation, Division of Environmental Analysis and ProTech, Inc. The writers are thankful for their financial support. The writers are also thankful to Mr. Chris Alaimo, Mr. Anand Choudhry, and Ms. Ozlem Tuli for their assistance in sample collection and laboratory testing.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 9 • September 2008
Pages: 712 - 721
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: May 7, 2007
Accepted: Feb 25, 2008
Published online: Sep 1, 2008
Published in print: Sep 2008
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