Performance Assessment of Stormwater Management Infrastructures in a Parking Lot near Montreal, Canada
Publication: Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment
Volume 10, Issue 1
Abstract
Stormwater control measures, including green and gray infrastructures, are increasingly used to enhance the level of sustainability of conventional drainage networks in managing rainfall-induced runoff. This paper studies the water quality and hydrologic performances of some bioretention cells and permeable pavements located in a parking lot in Boucherville (near Montreal), Canada, between July 2020 and November 2021. Because plants play a major role in the performance of green infrastructure, plant survival and growth monitoring were also conducted from June to September 2021. The results showed average runoff volume and average peak flow reductions of 91% and 98%, respectively, while the average delay in peak flow, for the few storm events with outflow, was 6.7 h. The average removal rates (in terms of concentration) for suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, total phosphorus, and total nitrogen were 96%, 79%, 81%, and 90%, respectively, while there was an average increase in electric conductivity of 14%. The survival rate of trees planted in bioretention cells was 100%. For bushes, survival rates indicated a variation between 54% and 100%, while for perennials, survival rates varied between 0% and 100%. The plants with the least survival rates were Alchemilla mollis when planted at the top, with 0%, Rudbeckia fulgida var. ‘Pot of Gold,’ with 74%, and Salix purpurea ‘Gracilis,’ with 54%.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study are proprietary or confidential in nature and may only be provided with restrictions because a confidentiality agreement has been signed with the municipality that manages the studied sewer network.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Alexandre Caille, Claude Poirier, and the Public Works team from the city of Boucherville for giving access to the study site, for providing most of the measuring equipment, and for providing help for the installation of equipment. The support of CHI for providing a free academic license for PCSWMM is also acknowledged. Financial support was provided by the city of Boucherville and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) (Grant ALLRP 544594-19). V. Guay received scholarships from NSERC, Fonds de Recherche du Québec—Nature et Technologie, and the CSA Group.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment
Volume 10 • Issue 1 • February 2024
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 20, 2023
Accepted: Sep 14, 2023
Published online: Oct 24, 2023
Published in print: Feb 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Mar 24, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Environmental engineering
- Flow (fluid dynamics)
- Fluid dynamics
- Fluid mechanics
- Highway transportation
- Hydrologic engineering
- Hydrology
- Infrastructure
- Parking facilities
- Peak flow
- Practice and Profession
- Retention basins
- Runoff
- Stilling basins
- Stormwater management
- Sustainable development
- Transportation engineering
- Water and water resources
- Water quality
- Water treatment
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