Phosphorus Leaching Behavior from Extensive Green Roof Substrates
Publication: Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment
Volume 8, Issue 4
Abstract
The substrate is the key component of a green roof system that directly influences the system’s stormwater mitigation performance; however, it is also identified as a potentially significant source of contaminants. It is interesting whether substrate phosphorus discharge behavior is predictable and, if so, whether the study of substrate phosphorus leaching behavior is representative of the green roof system performance. The substrates tested were extracted from a 4-year-old extensive green roof and a 1-year-old proprietary substrate from an agricultural (Ag) green roof. The column test for the extensive green roof substrate (comprised of 90% v/v pumice and 10% v/v compost) was designed to simulate 3 years of precipitation in a 3-month period, based on field monitoring of rainfall from 2018 to 2020, and assuming precipitation occurred equally each month. Double the amount of precipitation was applied to the Ag substrate to make up for the shorter duration field exposure before the laboratory experiment. Total phosphorus (TP) concentrations in the permeate from the extensive and the Ag substrates showed exponential decreases with cumulative water flow. The decreasing rates of TP concentrations were similar regardless of the initial phosphorus in the two different substrates. Field monitoring indicated that the TP discharge from the newly built green roof behaved differently compared with its substrate in the laboratory. However, substrate tests could be an extension of field monitoring to estimate the phosphorus discharge for aged green roofs.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code used during the study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The data include phosphorus content of all tested substrates, phosphorus concentrations from column tests, and phosphorus concentrations from field monitoring.
References
Aitkenhead-Peterson, J. A., B. D. Dvorak, A. Volder, and N. C. Stanley. 2011. “Chemistry of growth medium and leachate from green roof systems in south-central Texas.” Urban Ecosyst. 14 (1): 17–33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-010-0137-4.
Beecham, S., and M. Razzaghmanesh. 2015. “Water quality and quantity investigation of green roofs in a dry climate.” Water Res. 70 (May): 370–384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2014.12.015.
Berndtsson, J. C., T. Emilsson, and L. Bengtsson. 2006. “The influence of extensive vegetated roofs on runoff water quality.” Sci. Total Environ. 355 (1–3): 48–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.02.035.
Buffam, I., M. E. Mitchell, and R. D. Durtsche. 2016. “Environmental drivers of seasonal variation in green roof runoff water quality.” Ecol. Eng. 91 (18): 506–514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2016.02.044.
Chen, C. F., and S. F. Kang. 2016. “Effects of substrates and plant species on water quality of extensive green roofs.” Appl. Ecol. Environ. Res. 14 (2): 77–91. https://doi.org/10.15666/aeer/1402_077091.
Cheng, C., et al. Forthcoming. “Multi-year study on phosphorus discharge from extensive sedum green roofs and its amendments.” J. Sustainable Water Built Environ.
Emilsson, T., J. Berndtsson, J. Mattsson, and K. Rolf. 2007a. “Effect of using conventional and controlled release fertiliser on nutrient runoff from various vegetated roof systems.” Ecol. Eng. 29 (Jan): 260–271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2006.01.001.
Emilsson, T., J. Czemiel Berndtsson, J. E. Mattsson, and K. Rolf. 2007b. “Effect of using conventional and controlled release fertiliser on nutrient runoff from various vegetated roof systems.” Ecol. Eng. 29 (3): 260–271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2006.01.001.
Fassman-Beck, E., and R. Simcock. 2013. “Hydrology and water quality of living roofs in Auckland.” In Proc., 8th Int. Conf. on Planning and Technologies for Sustainable Management of Water in the City. Lyon, France: GRAIE.
für Bau, E., and P. V. F. als Schotterrasen. 2008. Forschungsgesellschaft Landschaftsentwicklung Landschaftsbau eV (FLL). Bonn, Germany: Ausgabe.
Gong, K., Q. Wu, S. Peng, X. Zhao, and X. Wang. 2014. “Research on the characteristics of the water quality of rainwater runoff from green roofs.” Water Sci. Technol. 70 (7): 1205–1210. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2014.358.
Gregoire, B. G., and J. C. Clausen. 2011. “Effect of a modular extensive green roof on stormwater runoff and water quality.” Ecol. Eng. 37 (6): 963–969. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2011.02.004.
Harper, G. E., M. A. Limmer, W. E. Showalter, and J. G. Burken. 2015. “Nine-month evaluation of runoff quality and quantity from an experiential green roof in Missouri, USA.” Ecol. Eng. 78 (2): 127–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2014.06.004.
Hathaway, A. M., W. F. Hunt, and G. D. Jennings. 2008. “A field study of green roof hydrologic and water quality performance.” Trans. ASABE 51 (1): 37–44. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.24225.
Jennett, T. S., and Y. Zheng. 2018. “Component characterization and predictive modeling for green roof substrates optimized to adsorb P and improve runoff quality: A review.” Environ. Pollut. 237 (3): 988–999. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.11.012.
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. 2020. Minnesota Stormwater Manual. https://stormwater.pca.state.mn.us/index.php?title=Main_Page.
Mitchell, M. E., S. F. Matter, R. D. Durtsche, and I. Buffam. 2017. “Elevated phosphorus: Dynamics during four years of green roof development.” Urban Ecosyst. 20 (5): 1121–1133. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-017-0664-3.
Moore, P. 1999. “Effects of redox potential on phosphorus chemistry in soils and sediments.” Program Abstr. Symp. Biogeochem. Wetlands 6: 129.
Ntoulas, N., P. A. Nektarios, T. E. Kapsali, M. P. Kaltsidi, L. Han, and S. Yin. 2015. “Determination of the physical, chemical, and hydraulic characteristics of locally available materials for formulating extensive green roof substrates.” HortTechnol. 25 (6): 774–784. https://doi.org/10.21273/horttech.25.6.774.
Reddy, K., E. D’Angelo, and W. Harris. 2000. “Biogeochemistry of Wetlands.” In Handbook of soil science. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Savant, N. K., and R. J. R. Ellis. 1964. “Changes in Redox potential and phosphorus availability in submerged soils.” Soil Sci. 98 (6): 388–394.
Teemusk, A., and Ü. Mander. 2007. “Rainwater runoff quantity and quality performance from a greenroof: The effects of short-term events.” Ecol. Eng. 30 (3): 271–277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2007.01.009.
Teemusk, A., and Ü. Mander. 2011. “The influence of green roofs on runoff water quality: A case study from Estonia.” Water Resour. Manage. 25 (14): 3699–3713. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-011-9877-z.
Toland, D. C., B. E. Haggard, and M. E. Boyer. 2012. “Evaluation of nutrient concentrations in runoff water from green roofs, conventional roofs, and urban streams.” Trans. ASABE 55 (1): 99–106. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.41258.
van Seters, T., L. Rocha, D. Smith, and G. MacMillan. 2009. “Evaluation of green roofs for runoff retention, runoff quality, and leachability.” Water Qual. Res. J. Can. 44 (1): 33–47. https://doi.org/10.2166/wqrj.2009.005.
Zhang, Q., L. Miao, X. Wang, D. Liu, L. Zhu, B. Zhou, J. Sun, and J. Liu. 2015. “The capacity of greening roof to reduce stormwater runoff and pollution.” Landscape Urban Plann. 144 (Jan): 142–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.08.017.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 2, 2021
Accepted: Mar 31, 2022
Published online: Jun 27, 2022
Published in print: Nov 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Nov 27, 2022
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Buildings
- Business management
- Chemical compounds
- Chemical elements
- Chemical processes
- Chemicals
- Chemistry
- Climates
- Engineering fundamentals
- Environmental engineering
- Field tests
- Geology
- Geotechnical engineering
- Green buildings
- Leaching
- Meteorology
- Nutrient pollution
- Phosphorus
- Pollution
- Practice and Profession
- Precipitation
- Structural engineering
- Structures (by type)
- Substrates
- Sustainable development
- Tests (by type)
- Water pollution
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.