Monitoring of a Rain Garden in Cold Climate: Case Study of a Parking Lot near Montréal
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 6
Abstract
Poor stormwater management is one of the primary factors behind the environmental degradation of water bodies. As a result, best management practices (BMP) and low-impact development (LID) have been implemented and promoted in many cities. This study presents some interesting results from a 1-year monitoring program for a rain garden located at a car park in Longueuil, Quebec, Canada (near Montréal). The design was specific in nature as it combines a perforated underdrain, an internal water storage zone of 0.97 m, an almost impervious surrounding soil, and a flow regulator at the outlet. A monitoring program was conducted to assess the performance of the rain garden in warm and cold conditions. Inflow volumes were estimated with an SCS method using precipitation data, but runoff resulting from snowmelt was not monitored. Outflow rates were directly measured. Results from this monitoring program showed that the bioretention system retained of the total runoff during the cold season, whereas of the total runoff was retained during the warm season. The event’s hydraulic retention efficiency depends highly on the rain garden water content at the beginning of the event and on the time since the previous precipitation event. The average event hydraulic retention efficiency reached 54.8% in warm conditions and in cold conditions only for events producing outflows. The use of a vortex flow regulator at the outlet efficiently limited flow rates, but generated very long runoff events, which made the system sensitive to consecutive rainfall events. The water-quality monitoring activities showed that concentrations in Escherichia coli, fecal coliforms, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, petroleum hydrocarbons, lead, and zinc were effectively reduced during the study period. The total suspended solids (TSS) concentrations were also well reduced by the bioretention, as average TSS concentrations in effluents were even in winter. However, removal of copper and nickel was not efficient and heavy metals concentrations were sometimes higher in the outlet than in the inlet. The same leaching phenomenon was seen for nutrients (total Kjeldahl nitrogen and phosphorous). The chlorides’ concentration significantly increased in effluent during the cold season () because de-icing salt was spread on the parking lot during winter. No clear evidence was observed that the wintry conditions had any effect on any other contaminants during this study (with a 95% confidence level).
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Acknowledgments
The writers would like to thank the research sponsors: Mitacs Acceleration Program and the National Research Council of Canada with its Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP).
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© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Mar 19, 2014
Accepted: Sep 26, 2014
Published online: Nov 14, 2014
Discussion open until: Apr 14, 2015
Published in print: Jun 1, 2015
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