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EVALUATION OF CONSTRUCTED WETLAND AND RETENTION POND BMPS FOR ATTENUATING MICROBIAL CONTAMINANTS IN URBAN STORMWATER RUNOFF
Citation:
Struck*, S, M Borst*, AND A Selvakumar*. EVALUATION OF CONSTRUCTED WETLAND AND RETENTION POND BMPS FOR ATTENUATING MICROBIAL CONTAMINANTS IN URBAN STORMWATER RUNOFF. Presented at Society of Wetland Scientists - Mid-Atlantic Chapter Annual Meeting, Villanova, PA, October 28 - 29, 2004.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
This project investigated the use of constructed wetlands and retention ponds for decreasing microbial concentrations from urban stormwater runoff. Increased urbanization has resulted in a larger percentage of impervious areas which cause large quantities of stormwater runoff and contribute significant amounts of debris and pollutants (e.g., litter, oils, heavy metals, sediments, nutrients, organic matter, and microorganisms) to receiving waters. Controlling peak flow volumes and removing or buffering the pollutant stressors has become the stated goals of structural stormwater best management practices (BMPs). Retention ponds and constructed wetlands are two popular structural BMPs commonly used for water quantity and quality control. While many studies have evaluated the capabilities of retention pond and constructed wetland BMPs to reduce pollutant concentrations and loadings, few have focused on the internal mechanisms relating to the efficacy of these BMPs. The experimental design of this study incorporates the construction of BMP mesocosms to evaluate, describe, and model the key microbial processes that occur within constructed wetland and retention pond simulated BMPs. The development of microbial inactivation models to predict effluent concentrations within constructed wetlands and retention pond BMPs will aid in reducing the uncertainty and add to the accuracy of surface water quality models in determining bacterial Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) allocations. Improved BMP design can lead to overall improvements in receiving water quality to meet state and federal water quality standards. Additional benefits of improved water quality include increased consumption of fish and shellfish, increased use of recreational waters, reduced beach closures and protection of drinking water sources from microbial sources.