Thesis
Performance evaluation of cold weather infiltration facilities
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
2006
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/571
Abstract
The effectiveness of stormwater best management practices (BMPs) in warm climates has been extensively researched. However, little research has been conducted to determine the effectiveness of these BMPs for flow control and pollutant removal during cold weather conditions. Freezing conditions and short growing seasons can adversely affect the pollutant removal efficiency of BMPs by decreasing infiltration through frozen soils, inhibiting biological uptake, and decreasing residence times. In addition, deicers may compete for positively charged soil binding sites, thus increasing metal mobility. The objectives of this study were to determine how well BMPs in cold climates such as eastern Washington control runoff volumes and flow rates, and how efficiently they remove heavy metals (Cu, Cd, Pb, and Zn). This will be determined by integrating the following three subcomponents (1) sampling and monitoring of runoff during storm events, (2) soil metal concentrations within various BMPs and, (3) quantifying metal transport as affected by deicing/anti icing agents in soil cores in a laboratory setting. Field soil sampling results show a significant decrease in soil metals concentrations with depth in the upper 30 cm of soil. Flow rates and samples have been taken from several runoff events in eastern Washington. These events include two snow melt events, a rain on snow event, and the first flush of a rain event. As expected significantly larger runoff rates are produced by rain on snow events than by isolated snow melt or rain events. Runoff pollutant concentrations yielded some interesting correlations including very high correlations between copper and chloride levels in runoff suggesting that deicing activities may be effecting the concentration and speciation of this metal. The effect of road salts (NaCl, and MgCl2) on metal mobility in a laboratory soil leaching test showed marked releases of certain metal species and organic matter during exposure to high ionic strength salt solutions followed by low ionic strength deionized water. These results are similar to those found in other literature sources and illustrate some of the concerns faced by designers in regions of the country where deicing practices are necessary.
Metrics
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Details
- Title
- Performance evaluation of cold weather infiltration facilities
- Creators
- Stephen Swanson Nelson
- 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
- Identifiers
- 99900525018901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis