Thesis
A low impact development method for mitigating highway stormwater runoff, using natural roadside environments for metals retention and infiltration
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
2005
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/377
Abstract
Stormwater runoff from highways is laden with contaminants, particularly heavy metals that adversely impact receiving waters. Traditional BMPs such as stormwater retention and detention facilities, while capable of settling out particulate bound metals, have high installation costs and considerable right of way requirements, and are thus not ideally suited for certain locations. Under some circumstances the natural roadside environment may adequately infiltrate stormwater runoff while also concentrating traffic generated contaminants, much like vegetated filter strips and biofiltration swales, preventing the discharge of metals to receiving waters. This research investigates the utility of these roadside areas, or low impact development (LID) low impact areas (LIAs), for stormwater contaminant mitigation. Three LIA natural roadside environments were instrumented with slot drains, precipitation and flow measurement devices, and sample collection apparatus in order to quantify overland flow and contaminant transport at three distances from the pavement edge. For all 36 precipitation events documented at the Pullman LIA site, stormwater runoff was completely infiltrating within 2 m of the roadway – runoff did not reach the 2 m or 4 m slot drains. Of the 18 precipitation events documented at the Spokane LIA site, only five events resulted in runoff at the 3.2 m distance, and only one of these events resulted in runoff at the 6.1 m distance. For this single event, all the measured runoff at the distant slot drains were less than 3% of the runoff that was measured at the 0 m distance (the edge of the pavement surface), indicating that greater than 97% was infiltrated. At the 0 m distance at the Pullman LIA site, metals concentrations of sediment collected in the slot drain for 9 events varied little between samples. Comparing total mass of metals of sediment collected in the 0 m slot drain with the total mass of metals of stormwater runoff collected in the composite sampler, Cu and Zn were predominantly associated with runoff (60-65%), Cd was almost exclusively associated with runoff (97%), and Pb was primarily associated with sediment (65%).
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Details
- Title
- A low impact development method for mitigating highway stormwater runoff, using natural roadside environments for metals retention and infiltration
- Creators
- Cory Deyne Lancaster
- Contributors
- David Yonge (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525118201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis