Abstract
Urbanization and its associated increased impervious footprint lead to stream impairment through erosion, flooding, and augmented pollutant loads. Low-impact development (LID) focuses on disconnecting impervious areas, increasing infiltration and evapotranspiration, and treating storm water on site through the use of storm water control measures (SCMs). In this study, a conventional development (centralized storm-water management) and an adjoining infiltration-based LID commercial site in Raleigh, North Carolina, were compared with respect to hydrology and water quality. The conventional development [2.76 ha, 61% directly connected impervious area (DCIA)] and the LID (2.53 ha, 84% DCIA) had underlying hydrologic soil group B soils. The LID was treated by a mix of green (aboveground) and grey (underground) infrastructure including an underground detention chamber and infiltration gallery, underground and aboveground cisterns, and aboveground swales and bioretention; the conventional development was treated with a dry detention basin and swales. Inflow and outflow runoff volumes and peak flows were normalized by DCIA. For the 47 hydrologic storms monitored, runoff coefficients of 0.02 at the LID site and 0.49 at the conventional site were recorded. The conventional development had an 11-fold higher median peak flow rate than the LID site. For the three storms more intense than the 10-year, 5-min average recurrence interval (ARI) event, the conventional site was an average of 7.7 times higher than that of the LID. Flow proportional, composite water-quality samples were analyzed for total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN), nitrite-nitrate nitrogen (), organic nitrogen (ON), orthophosphate (Ortho-P), and total suspended solids (TSS). Generally, no significant difference in pollutant event mean concentrations (EMCs) was observed between sites. For the 20 water-quality storms sampled, the LID site produced pollutant loadings that were less than 5% of those at the conventional site for all species studied. Results demonstrated highly effective and space-saving solutions when green and grey infrastructure are merged, which is often the case when constructing on high land-cost properties. The exceptional results from this LID were due to (1) an overdesigned system capable of capturing the 77-mm storm, rather than a typical 25-mm storm, and (2) the high infiltration capacity of the type B soils coupled with a high driving head ().
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund and the City of Raleigh, North Carolina, for funding this study and Regency Centers for granting access to the property. Shawn Kennedy of North Carolina State University is gratefully acknowledged for his assistance in monitoring design and installation.
References
American Public Health Association, American Water Works Association, and Water Environment Federation (APHA, AWWA, and WEF). (1998). Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 20th Ed., American Public Health Association, Alexandria, VA.
Anderson, D. M., Glibert, P. M., and Burkholder, J. M. (2002). “Harmful algal blooms and eutrophication: Nutrient sources, composition, and consequences.” Estuaries, 25(4), 704–726.
Bedan, E. S., and Clausen, J. C. (2009). “Stormwater runoff quality and quantity from traditional and low impact development watersheds.” J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 45(4), 998–1008.
Brown, R. A., and Hunt, W. F. (2011). “Underdrain configuration to enhance bioretention exfiltration to reduce pollutant loads.” J. Environ. Eng., 1082–1091.
Clausen, J. C., and Spooner, J. (1993). “Paired watershed study design.”, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water, Washington, DC.
Collins, K. A., Hunt, W. F., and Hathaway, J. M. (2008). “Hydrologic comparison of four types of permeable pavement and standard asphalt in eastern North Carolina.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 1146–1157.
Davis, A. P., Hunt, W. F., Traver, R. G., and Clar, M. (2009). “Bioretention technology: Overview of current practice and future needs.” J. Environ. Eng., 109–117.
Dietz, M. E. (2007). “Low impact development practices: A review of current research and recommendations for future directions.” Water Air Soil Pollut., 186(1–4), 351–363.
Dietz, M. E., and Clausen, J. C. (2008). “Stormwater runoff and export changes with development in a traditional and low impact subdivision.” J. Environ. Manage., 87(4), 560–566.
Fassman, E. A. (2012). “Stormwater BMP treatment performance variability for sediment and heavy metals.” Sep. Purif. Technol., 84, 95–103.
Gilbert, R. O. (1987). Statistical methods for environmental pollution monitoring, Wiley, New York.
Hammer, T. R. (1972). “Stream channel enlargement due to urbanization.” Water Resour. Res., 8(6), 1530–1540.
Hood, M. J., Clausen, J. C., and Warner, G. S. (2007). “Comparison of stormwater lag times for low impact and traditional residential development.” J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 43(4), 1036–1046.
Hossain, M. A., Alam, M., Yonge, D. R., and Dutta, P. (2005). “Efficiency and flow regime of a highway stormwater detention pond in Washington, USA.” Water Air Soil Pollut., 164(1), 79–89.
Hunt, W. F., Davis, A. P., and Traver, R. G. (2012). “Meeting hydrologic and water quality goals through targeted bioretention design.” J. Environ. Eng., 698–707.
Line, D., Brown, R., Hunt, W., and Lord, W. (2012). “Effectiveness of LID for commercial development in North Carolina.” J. Environ. Eng., 680–688.
Line, D. E., and White, N. M. (2007). “Effects of development on runoff and pollutant export.” Water Environ. Res., 79(2), 185–190.
Line, D. E., White, N. M., Osmond, D. L., Jennings, G. D., and Mojonnier, C. B. (2002). “Pollutant export from various land uses in the upper Neuse River basin.” Water Environ. Res., 74(1), 100–108.
Makepeace, D. K., Smith, D. W., and Stanley, S. J. (1995). “Urban stormwater quality: Summary of contaminant data.” Crit. Rev. Environ. Sci. Technol., 25(2), 93–139.
Moscrip, A. L., and Montgomery, D. R. (1997). “Urbanization, flood frequency, and salmon abundance in puget lowland streams.” J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 33(6), 1289–1297.
Musgrave, G. (1955). “How much of the rain enters the soil?” Water: US Department of agricultural yearbook, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, DC, 15l–159.
National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). (2006). “NOAA Atlas 14 Vol. 2 Ver. 3.” 〈http://hdsc.nws.noaa.gov/hdsc/pfds〉 (Apr. 04, 2013).
North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (NCDENR). (2009). Stormwater best management practices manual, Raleigh, NC.
Pandit, A., and Heck, H. H. (2009). “Estimations of soil conservation service curve numbers for concrete and asphalt.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 335–345.
Passeport, E., and Hunt, W. F. (2009). “Asphalt parking lot nutrient characterization for eight sites in North Carolina, USA.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 352–361.
Pitt, R., Maestre, A., and Morquecho, R. (2004). “Evaluation of NPDES phase I municipal stormwater monitoring data.” National Conf. on Urban Stormwater: Enhancing the Programs at the Local Level, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.
Roesner, L., Bledsoe, B., and Brashear, R. (2001). “Are best-management-practice criteria really environmentally friendly?” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 150–154.
Rosenzweig, B. R., Smith, J. A., Baeck, M. L., and Jaffé, P. R. (2011). “Monitoring nitrogen loading and retention in an urban stormwater detention pond.” J. Environ. Qual., 40(2), 598–609.
Rushton, B. T. (2001). “Low-impact parking lot design reduces runoff and pollutant loads.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 172–179.
SAS Institute Version 9.3. (2012). The SAS system for Windows, SAS Institute, Cary, NC.
State Climate Office of North Carolina (SCO). (2012). “State Climate Office of North Carolina.” 〈http://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu〉 (Apr. 02, 2013).
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service. (2004). “Chapter 10: Estimation of direct runoff from storm rainfall.” National engineering handbook, Washington, DC.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Soil Conservation Service. (1972). “Section 4: Hydrology.” National engineering handbook, Washington, DC.
USEPA. (2009). National water quality inventory: 2004 report to congress, Washington, DC.
Wang, L., and Lyons, J. (2003). “Fish and benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages as indicators of stream degradation in urbanizing watersheds.” Biological response signatures: Indicator patterns using aquatic communities, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 227–232.
Wardynski, B. J., Winston, R. J., and Hunt, W. F. (2013). “Internal water storage enhances exfiltration and thermal load reduction from permeable pavement in the North Carolina mountains.” J. Environ. Eng., 187–195.
Wilson, C. E., Hunt, W. F., Winston, R. J., and Smith, P. (2014). “Assessment of a rainwater harvesting system for pollutant mitigation at a commercial location in Raleigh, NC, USA.” Water Sci. Technol.: Water Supply, 14(2), 283–290.
Winston, R. J., Hunt, W. F., Kennedy, S. G., Wright, J. D., and Lauffer, M. S. (2012). “Field evaluation of storm-water control measures for highway runoff treatment.” J. Environ. Eng., 101–111.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 2 • February 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 21, 2013
Accepted: Mar 19, 2014
Published online: Sep 3, 2014
Published in print: Feb 1, 2015
Discussion open until: Feb 3, 2015
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Chemical compounds
- Chemical elements
- Chemicals
- Chemistry
- Comparative studies
- Engineering fundamentals
- Environmental engineering
- Hydrologic engineering
- Hydrology
- Infiltration
- Methodology (by type)
- Nitrogen
- Nutrient pollution
- Pollution
- Practice and Profession
- Research methods (by type)
- Runoff
- Stormwater management
- Sustainable development
- Water and water resources
- Water pollution
- Water treatment
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.