Characterizing Physicochemical Quality of Storm-Water Runoff from an Urban Area in Calgary, Alberta
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 11
Abstract
Understanding storm-water runoff quality is required to develop effective urban storm-water runoff management for regions of semiarid climate. In this study, the quality of storm-water runoff from a semiarid, urban residential catchment, draining through separated storm-water sewers was investigated in 2006 and 2007. Water temperature, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity were continuously measured during 16 storm events. Storm-water runoff quality was characterized in terms of event mean values (EMVs), loads, and first flush (FF) loads and their relationships with rainfall characteristics. Discharge of total suspended solids (TSSs) is in general governed by the flow magnitude in storms and no significant relationships exist between the FF loads of TSS and rainfall intensity. The discharge of dissolved solids is independent of the flow magnitude. Strong FF effect for dissolved solids and weak FF effect for TSS were observed. This semiarid region provided no relationship between the EMVs of both TSS and conductivity and the antecedent dry period. This raises doubts on storm-water runoff being more heavily loaded with pollutants after a longer dry period in semiarid regions.
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Acknowledgments
The writers would like to acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. This research was supported by the City of Calgary and the Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptations Program (NRCAN). The writers would like to thank Liliana Bozic, Pamela Duncan, and Phillip Jerome of the City of Calgary for their contributions.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 11 • November 2010
Pages: 1206 - 1217
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 10, 2009
Accepted: May 12, 2010
Published online: May 15, 2010
Published in print: Nov 2010
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