Evaluation of Storm-Water Wetlands in Series in Piedmont North Carolina
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 1
Abstract
Three storm-water wetlands in series were monitored in a heavily urbanized 12.5 ha watershed in Mooresville, North Carolina. Monitoring of this system allowed an examination of the diminishing returns provided by three successive best management practices (BMPs) of a similar type. At least 80% of the total concentration reduction for all pollutants occurred within the first wetland cell. Only the first wetland cell significantly reduced all pollutants tested. No pollutant was significantly reduced from the outlet of Wetland Cell 2 to the outlet of Wetland Cell 3 . Median complete system (outlet of Wetland Cell 3) effluent concentrations for total suspended solids, total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and turbidity were 8, 0.09, 0.73 mg/L, and 10 NTU, respectively, which compared favorably to published results. Organic nitrogen generated from wetland vegetation seemed to result in a background source of nitrogen in the wetlands, supporting the idea of an irreducible concentration for nitrogen in these systems. The results indicate that the successive BMPs in a series do not perform as well as the first when each BMP uses similar removal mechanisms.
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Acknowledgments
The writers acknowledge the North Carolina Ecosystem Enhancement Program for logistical assistance and funding of this study, the North Carolina Division of Water Quality for their monitoring assistance and sample collection, the Town of Mooresville for their logistical assistance and willingness to provide public land for the project, and Jonathan Smith of Tetra Tech, Inc. for his contributions to the project design, construction, and monitoring setup.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 1 • January 2010
Pages: 140 - 146
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Apr 22, 2009
Accepted: Jul 22, 2009
Published online: Jul 24, 2009
Published in print: Jan 2010
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