Survey of the Operational Status of 25 Swedish Municipal Stormwater Management Ponds
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 6
Abstract
During the past 50 years, wet stormwater ponds have been constructed to reduce negative environmental impacts of urban stormwater discharges on receiving aquatic environments. However, in many jurisdictions there is little information on the current operational status of such ponds and their functioning. This paucity of information prompted a field survey of 25 Swedish municipal stormwater ponds, aged between 3 and 26 years. The pond survey focused on estimating the pond hydraulic loading and efficiency, the state of littoral vegetation, characteristics of bottom sediment in the inlet and outlet zones (sizes and the chemistry), and the overall operational pond status, including the access for maintenance. The hydraulic efficiencies of ponds were estimated for pond footprint shapes and relative locations of the inlets and outlets using literature data. The estimated hydraulic efficiencies correlated well with the pond length-to-width ratios and the ratio of the pond surface area to the impervious area of the runoff contributing catchment (i.e., the hydraulic loading). Littoral vegetation was inspected visually and found to be overgrown at some facilities, which impeded the maintenance access. Benthic sediments in ponds contained silt and clay (), sand and gravel fractions, and when compared with the literature data, such sediments appeared relatively coarse. Chemical characteristics of sediments reflected anthropogenic (traffic) activities, but without excessive contamination warranting special disposal requirements. Of the 25 ponds surveyed, four were fenced off and inaccessible to machinery. In fact, the design of these four ponds was such that it made inspection and maintenance very difficult, which may pose potential risks to ponds operation. Fifty-four percent of the investigated ponds were in need of minor maintenance, primarily because of sediment and litter accumulation in their inflow and outflow sections. The fact that the inspection survey revealed relatively few minor issues that could be corrected easily demonstrates the importance of relatively simple regular inspections serving to detect minor problems at an early stage before they would seriously impact pond functioning. The above survey methodology should be helpful for developing similar low-cost surveys in other jurisdictions.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the staff of Växjö, Malmö, Örebro, Umeå, and Östersund Municipalities for their assistance in providing the information needed during field sampling. This work was performed as an activity of the research cluster Dag & Nät. Financial support for this work from Norrbottens forskningsråd is gratefully acknowledged.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 6 • June 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 28, 2016
Accepted: Nov 7, 2016
Published ahead of print: Feb 10, 2017
Published online: Feb 11, 2017
Published in print: Jun 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Jul 11, 2017
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