Performance Analysis of a Wet-Retention Pond in a Small Agricultural Catchment
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 4
Abstract
Urban wet-retention pond performance has been extensively studied for many water contaminants. However, very few studies have focused on wet-retention pond efficiency under agricultural production systems. This study presents the results drawn from a 5-year data set collected on a retention pond constructed in Saint-Samuel (Canada) at the outlet of a 23.1-hectare watershed under cash crop production. A total of 62 runoff events were analyzed for hydrological performance, 20 events for total suspended solids (TSS), 11 events for total nitrogen (TN), and 14 events for total phosphorus (TP). Peak flows were reduced by 38% on average and the retention pond reduced the frequency and duration of exceedance of the erosion threshold. Drawdown times for 50, 75, 90, and 100% of the runoff volume were 7, 18, 28, and 42 h, respectively. The mean detention time was 3.2 h compared to the watershed lag time of 3.4 h. Mean removal efficiency ratios based on event-mean concentrations (EMC) and event-total loads (ETL) were similar to those reported for urban areas, with values of 50–56%, 42–52%, and 48–59% for TSS, TN, and TP, respectively. Effluent water quality analyses have shown that environmental criteria were often exceeded and threshold concentrations below which treatment is unlikely to occur were similar to irreducible concentrations reported for urban areas with estimated values of 30, 1, and for TSS, TN, and TP, respectively. The primary treatment mechanism of the retention pond is most likely the sedimentation of sand and silt particles and particulate nutrients.
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Acknowledgments
This research project was funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and site construction was co-funded by Québec minister of Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation, the municipality of Saint-Samuel (Québec) and Ferme Bergeroy S.E.N.C. We would like to thank Nadia Goussard, Victor Savoie, Camille Desmarais, Claudia Doucet, Claude Bergeron, Guylaine Bergeron, René Bergeron, and Mayor René Mongrain for their valuable contributions. The authors would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 142 • Issue 4 • April 2016
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 10, 2015
Accepted: Oct 28, 2015
Published online: Jan 8, 2016
Published in print: Apr 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Jun 8, 2016
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