Full-Scale Up-Flo® Stormwater Filter Field Verification Tests

The Up-Flo® stormwater filter was initially developed by University of Alabama researchers during EPA SBIR supported research and was refined and commercialized by Hydro International. Several series of evaluation tests have been conducted to verify the performance under different conditions and scales. Currently, full-scale field tests are being conducted at the Bama Belle Riverwalk Parkway test site in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This paper reports on the results for the 10 rain events monitored during this phase of the project. Continued monitoring is also being conducted to verify these results under longer field exposures and wider ranges of rain conditions. These field performance tests indicate that the Up-Flo® Filter has excellent removals for particulates (TSS 82.1% flow-weighted average for influent concentrations ranging from 31 to 571 mg/L, with an average of 157 mg/L). Nutrient reductions are less, being about 13 and 15% for total nitrogen and total phosphorus respectively. Metal reductions are very good, at >64% for total and dissolved Cd, >45% for total and dissolved Copper, about 35% for dissolved Zinc, and about 54% for total Zinc. Bacteria reductions are also very good, at 38.2% reductions for E. coli and 82.8% reductions for Enterococci.