Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Processes improving urban stormwater quality in grass swales and filter strips: A review of research findings
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Architecture and Water.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7445-0870
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Architecture and Water.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0367-3449
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Architecture and Water.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9938-8217
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Architecture and Water.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1725-6478
2019 (English)In: Science of the Total Environment, ISSN 0048-9697, E-ISSN 1879-1026, Vol. 669, p. 431-447Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Increasing interest in urban drainage green infrastructure brings attention to grass swales and filter strips (GS&GFS) and their role in stormwater management. While the understanding of the hydrology and hydraulics of these stormwater control measures is adequate for current needs, there are knowledge gaps in understanding the water quality processes in GS&GFS and such a finding motivated preparation of the review paper that follows. The review revealed that most of the empirical studies of GS&GFS flow quality focused on the removal of pollutants associated with road runoff, and particularly solids, with relatively few studies addressing nutrients, traffic associated hydrocarbons, oxygen demanding substances, chloride, and faecal indicator bacteria. The reported results suffer from limitations caused by experimental conditions often representing a steady flow used to irrigate GS&GFS and generate runoff, non-submerged flows, no lateral inflows along swale side slopes, constant dosing of solids, emphasis on larger-than-typical solids, incomplete descriptions of experimental conditions, and limited attention to experimental uncertainties. Besides settling, other treatment processes, like adsorption/desorption, plant uptake, chemical precipitation and microbial degradation are often acknowledged, but without attempting to quantify their effects on flow quality. The modelling of GS&GFS flow quality would be beneficial for an improved understanding of green urban drainage infrastructure, but currently it is infeasible without a better knowledge of stormwater quality processes in GS&GFS facilities.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2019. Vol. 669, p. 431-447
Keywords [en]
Green infrastructure, Pollutant transport, Runoff treatment, Stormwater management, SolidsTrace metals
National Category
Water Engineering
Research subject
Urban Water Engineering; Centre - Centre for Stormwater Management (DRIZZLE)
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-73262DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.072ISI: 000463663500042PubMedID: 30889442Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85063001613OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-73262DiVA, id: diva2:1297765
Note

Validerad;2019;Nivå 2;2019-03-21 (johcin)

Available from: 2019-03-21 Created: 2019-03-21 Last updated: 2023-10-18Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Trace metals in swale soils and sediments from gully pots and stormwater management ponds
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Trace metals in swale soils and sediments from gully pots and stormwater management ponds
2023 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Alternative title[sv]
Spårmetaller ackumulerade i dagvattenanläggningar: svackdiken, rännstensbrunnar och dagvattendammar
Abstract [en]

Three commonly used drainage system components, with considerably different characteristics and roles in stormwater management, were studied and reported on in this thesis: (i) grass swales, (ii) gully pots (GPs), and (iii) stormwater management ponds. With time, solids and associated pollutants accumulate in these components, and regular maintenance is needed to ensure that their design functions, including protection of the environment, are sustained.

Trace metals and their concentrations, loads and speciation were investigated within and among the individual types of components. The study program started with a critical review of processes enhancing the quality of stormwater passing over grass filter strips and through swales, and continued with field research of swale soils, and sediments from GPs and ponds.

The swales studied in the thesis served for stormwater drainage and storage of snow cleared from adjacent trafficked areas during winter months. Results suggest that both stormwater runoff and snow stored in the swale were transport vectors of metals originating from traffic. Other sources of metals were native soils and traction material used in winter road maintenance.

Moreover, the speciation results showed that across components, Zn and Pb were the metals with the highest share in the most mobile fraction, followed by Cu, while Ba, Cr,V, Co, and Ni were found in a higher share in the less mobile fractions.

GP and pond sediments showed similar organic matter content, whereas swales soils showed relatively low organic content, further decreasing with the soil depth. Results suggested that higher organic matter content corresponded to higher concentrations of certain metals in the case of ponds and, to some extent, swales. In the case of GPs, a positive relationship between metals and the proportion of fine particles was detected.

The highest concentrations of Cu and Zn were observed in sediments from ponds and reached 319 and 1380 mg/kg DW, respectively. The highest concentration of Pb (188mg/kg DW) was observed in swale, operating for 57 years located next to a road with the traffic intensity of 11,650 v/day.

The large variation in the accumulated dry mass of solids in GPs (2-91 kg) questions the current practice of emptying all GPs at the same regular intervals. Moreover, of the 26 GP samples, Swedish thresholds for soils with the sensitive (S) land use were exceeded for Cu in five samples and Zn in six samples. Of 32 pond samples, the S threshold was exceeded for Cu in nine samples and Zn in 12 samples; of these, three and eight of the pond samples also exceeded the less sensitive (LS) threshold. Of 96 swale samples, 25 samples exceeded the S threshold for Pb, with one sample also exceeding the LS threshold.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Luleå: Luleå University of Technology, 2023
Series
Doctoral thesis / Luleå University of Technology 1 jan 1997 → …, ISSN 1402-1544
National Category
Water Engineering
Research subject
Urban Water Engineering; Centre - Centre for Stormwater Management (DRIZZLE)
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-101706 (URN)978-91-8048-412-1 (ISBN)978-91-8048-413-8 (ISBN)
Public defence
2023-12-14, E632, Luleå tekniska universitet, Luleå, 09:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2023-10-18 Created: 2023-10-18 Last updated: 2024-03-25Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textPubMedScopus

Authority records

Gavric, SnezanaLeonhardt, GüntherMarsalek, JiriViklander, Maria

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Gavric, SnezanaLeonhardt, GüntherMarsalek, JiriViklander, Maria
By organisation
Architecture and Water
In the same journal
Science of the Total Environment
Water Engineering

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn
Total: 258 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf