Influent Pollutant Concentrations as Predictors of Effluent Pollutant Concentrations for Mid-Atlantic Bioretention
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 9
Abstract
The water quality performance of best management practices (BMPs) has been frequently assessed by the removal efficiency metric. Recent findings show that the removal efficiency metric is flawed because it does not account for background water quality, eco-region differentiation, and background, or “irreducible,” concentrations. Additionally, the removal efficiency metric inherently assumes a definite association exists between influent and effluent pollutant concentrations. Such a relationship between influent and effluent concentrations has been minimally studied for bioretention, the most common storm-water control measure associated with low-impact development (LID). This study analyzes influent and effluent total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TP) concentrations from 11 bioretention cells in the mid-Atlantic United States. Pooled data showed only a slight association between influent and effluent TN. Essentially no relationship exists between influent and effluent TP concentration. Both findings indicate that the percent-removal metric is a faulty means of evaluating bioretention performance. Twelve general linear models (GLMs) were created where influent TN and TP were the predictors of respective effluent TN and TP concentrations. Only one GLM was considered to be “good,” defined as 67–90% of the variation in effluent concentrations being explained by respective influent concentrations (). In addition, there were two “fair” models, five “poor” models, and four “very poor” models. No “very good” models were found for TN or TP. Furthermore, as influent nutrient concentration in runoff increases, the removal efficiency increases for TN and TP. “Dirtier” influent TP concentrations were effectively reduced; conversely, “cleaner” TP influent concentrations increased, both tending toward a (possibly media-controlled) baseline effluent concentration (0.10 to ). TN effluent data also may have been tending toward a common concentration; however, the value was not as discernible.
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Acknowledgments
This research was partially supported by The Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET). North Carolina data used in this analysis were collected by the following people, or entities: Lucas Sharkey, Elodie Passeport, Robert Brown, and the City of Charlotte. The Maryland data analyzed in this study were collected and analyzed by Houng Li. The research was supported by the Prince George’s County, MD, Department of Environmental Resources under the guidance of Dr. Mow-Soung Cheng.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 9 • September 2011
Pages: 790 - 799
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 26, 2010
Accepted: Feb 8, 2011
Published online: Feb 10, 2011
Published in print: Sep 1, 2011
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