Impacts of Construction Activity on Bioretention Performance
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 15, Issue 6
Abstract
Bioretention cells are incorporated as part of low impact development (LID) because of their ability to release influent runoff as exfiltration to the soil or evapotranspiration to the atmosphere. However, little care is taken as to the techniques used to excavate bioretention cells, and there is little concern as to the soil-moisture condition during excavation. Certain excavation techniques and soil-moisture conditions create higher levels of compaction which consequently reduce infiltration capacity. Two excavation techniques, the conventional “scoop” method which purposefully smears the underlying soil surface and the “rake” method which uses the teeth of an excavator’s bucket to scarify the underlying soil surface, were tested. Field tests were conducted on three soil types (sand, loamy sand, and clay) under a variety of antecedent soil-moisture conditions. Multiple hydraulic conductivity, surface infiltration, and soil compaction measurements were taken for each excavated condition. In all cases, the rake method of excavation tended to yield more permeable, less compacted soils than the scoop method. The difference of infiltration and hydraulic conductivity between the two excavation techniques was statistically significant when tests were conducted in wet soil conditions. Also, the infiltration rate at the clay site was significantly lower , and the hydraulic conductivity at the sandy site was significantly lower when the scoop methodology was used. Based on results of the experiment and because essentially no extra cost is associated with the rake method of excavation, it is recommended over the conventional scoop method. Another recommendation is to excavate under relatively dry soil conditions. The use of the rake method under dry soil conditions is expected to increase long-term exfiltration from bioretention cells.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers acknowledge the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET) for funding this project. Thanks to the NCSU faculty, Dr. Aziz Amoozegar, Dr. Greg Jennings, Dr. Wayne Skaggs, and Dr. Jason Osborne. The writers sincerely appreciate Joe Wright for his help in excavating the bioretention cells exactly how they needed to be. Thanks to everyone involved with this project at the Lake Wheeler Research Facility and Nash County Agricultural Center for their cooperation, in particular Mike Wilder, Bill Lord, Joni Tanner, Ken Snyder, and Todd Marcom. Also thanks to the NCSU staff and students, Jess Roberts, Ryan Winston, Jon Hathaway, Brian Phillips, Wilson Huntley, Chris Niewoehner, Shawn Kennedy, Jackie McNett, Natalie Gurkin, and “little” Bill Hunt for their assistance.
References
Akram, M., and Kemper, W. D. (1979). “Infiltration of soils as affected by the pressure and water content at the time of compaction.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 43(1), 1080–1086.
Amerson, R. S., Tyler, E. J., and Converse, J. C. (1991). “Infiltration as affected by compaction, fines, and contact area of gravel.” Proc., 6th National Symp. on Individual and Small Community Sewage Systems: On-site Wastewater Treatment, American Society of Agricultural Engineers, St. Joseph, Mich., 214–222.
Amoozegar, A. (2006). “Amoozemeter.” Encyclopedia of soil science, R. Lal, ed., Taylor and Francis, London, 86–92.
ASTM. (2003). “Standard test method for infiltration rate of soils in field using double-ring infiltrometer.” ASTM D3385-03, West Conshohocken, Pa.
ASTM. (2005). “Standard test methods for laboratory determination of water (moisture) content of soil and rock by mass.” ASTM D2216-05, West Conshohocken, Pa.
Bean, E. Z., Hunt, W. F., and Bidelspach, D. A. (2007). “Field survey of permeable pavement surface infiltration rates.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 133(3), 249–255.
Bouma, J. (1982). “Measuring the hydraulic conductivity of soil horizons with continuous macropores.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 46(1), 438–441.
Box, G. E., and Cox, D. R. (1964). “An analysis of transformations.” J. R. Stat. Soc., 26(B), 211–246.
Chesapeake Bay Program. (2008). “Air and water pollution.” Bay pressures, ⟨http://www.chesapeakebay.net⟩ (Oct. 23, 2008).
Clark, S. E., and Pitt, R. (2007). “Influencing factors and a proposed evaluation methodology for predicting groundwater contamination potential from stormwater infiltration activities.” Water Environ. Res., 79(1), 29–36.
Davis, A. P. (2008). “Field performance of bioretention: Hydrology impacts.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 13(2), 90–95.
Davis, A. P., Hunt, W. F., Traver, R. G., and Clar, M. E. (2009). “Bioretention technology: overview of current practice and future needs.” J. Environ. Eng., 135(3), 109–117.
Davis, A. P., Shokouhian, M., Sharma, H., and Minami, C. (2001). “Laboratory study of biological retention for urban stormwater management.” Water Environ. Res., 73(1), 5–14.
Dierkes, C., and Geiger, W. F. (1999). “Pollution retention capabilities of roadside soils.” Water Sci. Technol., 39(2), 201–208.
Emerson, C. H., and Traver, R. G. (2008). “Multiyear and seasonal variation of infiltration from storm-water best management practices.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 134(5), 598–605.
Gee, G. W., and Bauder, J. W. (1986). “Particle-size analysis.” Methods of soil analysis. Part 1: Physical and mineralogical methods, A. Klute, ed., Soil Science Society of America, Madison, Wis., 383–411.
Gimenez, D. C., Dirksen, R., Miedema, L. A., Eppink, A. J., and Schoonderbeck, D. (1992). “Surface sealing and hydraulic conductances under varying-intensity rains.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 56(1), 234–242.
Gregory, J. H., Dukes, M. D., Jones, P. H., and Miller, G. L. (2006). “Effect of urban soil compaction on infiltration rate.” J. Soil Water Conservat., 61(3), 117–124.
Horton, R., Ankeny, M. D., and Allmaras, R. R. (1994). “Effects of compaction on soil hydraulic properties.” Soil compaction in crop production, B. D. Soane and C. van Ouwerkerk, eds., Elsevier Science, London, 141–165.
Hunt, W. F., Jarrett, A. R., Smith, J. T., and Sharkey, L. J. (2006). “Evaluating bioretention hydrology and nutrient removal at three field sites in North Carolina.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 132(6), 600–608.
Jones, M. P., and Hunt, W. F. (2009). “Bioretention impact on runoff temperature in trout sensitive waters.” J. Environ. Eng., 135(8), 577–585.
Klute, A. (1986). “Water retention: Laboratory methods.” Methods of soil analysis. Part 1: Physical and Mineralogical Methods, A. Klute, ed., Soil Science Society of America, Madison, Wis., 635–662.
Kwiatkowski, M., Welker, A. L., Traver, R. G., Vanacore, M., and Ladd, T. (2007). “Evaluation of an infiltration best management practice utilizing pervious concrete.” J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 43(5), 1208–1222.
Li, H., Sharkey, L. J., Hunt, W. F., and Davis, A. P. (2009). “Mitigation of impervious surface hydrology using bioretention in North Carolina and Maryland.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 14(4), 407–415.
North Carolina Division of Water Quality (NCDWQ). (1994). Tar-Pamlico basinwide water quality management plan: December 1994, North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources, Division of Water Quality, Raleigh, N.C.
North Carolina Division of Water Quality (NCDWQ). (2007). “Section 12: Bioretention.” Stormwater best management practices manual, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Water Quality, Raleigh, N.C., 12.1–12.31.
Passeport, E., Hunt, W. F., Line, D. E., Smith, R. A., and Brown, R. A. (2009). “Field study of the ability of two grassed bioretention cells to reduce storm-water runoff pollution.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 135(4), 505–510.
Pitt, R., Chen, S., and Clark, S. (2002). “Compacted urban soils effects on infiltration and bioretention stormwater control designs.” Proc., 9th Int. Conf. on Urban Drainage, ASCE, Reston, Va.
Pitt, R., Chen, S., Clark, S., Swenson, J., and Ong, C. (2008). “Compaction’s impacts on urban storm-water infiltration.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 134(5), 652–658.
Pitt, R., Clark, S., and Field, R. (1999). “Groundwater contamination potential from stormwater infiltration practices.” Urban Water, 1, 217–236.
Radcliffe, D. E., West, L. T., Hubbard, R. K., and Asmussen, L. E. (1991). “Surface sealing in coastal plains loamy sands.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 55(1), 223–227.
Shuster, W. D., Gehring, R., and Gerken, J. (2007). “Prospects for enhanced groundwater recharge via infiltration of urban storm water runoff: a case study.” J. Soil Water Conservat., 62(3), 129–137.
Tyner, J. S., Wright, W. C., and Dobbs, P. A. (2009). “Increasing exfiltration from pervious concrete and temperature monitoring.” J. Environ. Manage., 90(8), 2636–2641.
U.S. EPA. (2007). “National water quality inventory: Report to Congress—2002 reporting cycle.” Rep. No. EPA 841-R-07-001, U.S. EPA, Washington, D.C.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 15 • Issue 6 • June 2010
Pages: 386 - 394
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Dec 1, 2008
Accepted: Jul 17, 2009
Published online: Jul 18, 2009
Published in print: Jun 2010
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.