Characteristics of Highway Stormwater Runoff in Los Angeles: Metals and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Lau, Seng Fong; Han, Younghan; Kang, Joo‐Hyon; Kayhanian, Masoud; Stenstrom, Michael K.

doi:10.2175/106143008x357237

Cited by 60 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The urban river also receives inputs from several combined sewer overflows (CSOs) that release untreated wastewater and storm water during high rainfall (www.cityofchicago.org). Non-point-source runoff from impervious surfaces and CSOs can be sources of anthropogenic pollutants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) (29)(30)(31), and elevated concentrations of PCBs have been reported for the NSC (32). Therefore, anthropogenic pollutants in the urban site may also have contributed to its lower numbers of heterotrophic bacteria.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wastewater Treatment Effluent Reduces the Abundance and Diversity of Benthic Bacterial Communities in Urban and Suburban Rivers

Drury

Rosi‐Marshall

Kelly

2013

Appl Environ Microbiol

307

162

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bIn highly urbanized areas, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent can represent a significant component of freshwater ecosystems. As it is impossible for the composition of WWTP effluent to match the composition of the receiving system, the potential exists for effluent to significantly impact the chemical and biological characteristics of the receiving ecosystem. We assessed the impacts of WWTP effluent on the size, activity, and composition of benthic microbial communities by comparing two distinct field sites in the Chicago metropolitan region: a highly urbanized river receiving effluent from a large WWTP and a suburban river receiving effluent from a much smaller WWTP. At sites upstream of effluent input, the urban and suburban rivers differed significantly in chemical characteristics and in the composition of their sediment bacterial communities. Although effluent resulted in significant increases in inorganic nutrients in both rivers, surprisingly, it also resulted in significant decreases in the population size and diversity of sediment bacterial communities. Tag pyrosequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes revealed significant effects of effluent on sediment bacterial community composition in both rivers, including decreases in abundances of Deltaproteobacteria, Desulfococcus, Dechloromonas, and Chloroflexi sequences and increases in abundances of Nitrospirae and Sphingobacteriales sequences. The overall effect of the WWTP inputs was that the two rivers, which were distinct in chemical and biological properties upstream of the WWTPs, were almost indistinguishable downstream. These results suggest that WWTP effluent has the potential to reduce the natural variability that exists among river ecosystems and indicate that WWTP effluent may contribute to biotic homogenization.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wastewater Treatment Effluent Reduces the Abundance and Diversity of Benthic Bacterial Communities in Urban and Suburban Rivers

Drury

Rosi‐Marshall

Kelly

2013

Appl Environ Microbiol

307

162

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Section: Annual Metal Runoff Loads For Different Traffic Areasmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Some significant correlations between the catchment area and the metal runoff loads were also calculated (Table 3). However, only an effect of the area on the first flush was previously reported [52]. Notes: * p < 0.05, statistical significance of the correlations; ** p < 0.01, statistical significance of the correlations.…”

Section: Fixed Site-specific Influencesmentioning

confidence: 94%

Stormwater Management: Calculation of Traffic Area Runoff Loads and Traffic Related Emissions

Huber¹

2016

Water

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Metals such as antimony, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc can be highly relevant pollutants in stormwater runoff from traffic areas because of their occurrence, toxicity, and non-degradability. Long-term measurements of their concentrations, the corresponding water volumes, the catchment areas, and the traffic volumes can be used to calculate specific emission loads and annual runoff loads that are necessary for mass balances. In the literature, the annual runoff loads are often specified by a distinct catchment area (e.g., g/ha). These loads were summarized and discussed in this paper for all seven metals and three types of traffic areas (highways, parking lots, and roads; 45 sites). For example, the calculated median annual runoff loads of all sites are 355 g/ha for copper, 110 g/ha for lead (only data of the 21st century), and 1960 g/ha for zinc. In addition, historical trends, annual variations, and site-specific factors were evaluated for the runoff loads. For Germany, mass balances of traffic related emissions and annual heavy metal runoff loads from highways and total traffic areas were calculated. The influences on the mass fluxes of the heavy metal emissions and the runoff pollution were discussed. However, a statistical analysis of the annual traffic related metal fluxes, in particular for different traffic area categories and land uses, is currently not possible because of a lack of monitoring data.

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“…To minimize this effect, internal tube surfaces were lightly sanded to retard edge flow, and distribution of the synthetic stormwater took place over a mulch in the centre of the column [19]. Heavy metal indicators in road runoff have also been shown to exhibit strong correlation, with hydrocarbon indicators such as BTEXN (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, and naphthalene), TRH (total recoverable hydrocarbons), and PAH [13,14]. This makes highly soluble heavy metals, such as zinc, good proxies for a range of co-generated pollutants in hydraulic column experiments where added non-polar hydrocarbons would coat filter particles, interfering with the removal of important polar pollutants, such as the metals and nutrients.…”

Section: Soil Columnsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollution Removal Performance of Laboratory Simulations of Sydney’s Street Stormwater Biofilters

Macnamara

Derry

2017

Water

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Abstract:The City of Sydney is constructing more than 21,000 square metres of street biofilter units (raingardens) in terms of their Decentralised Water Master Plan (DWMP), for improving the quality of stormwater runoff to Port Jackson, the Cooks River, and the historical Botany Bay. Recharge of the Botany Sand Beds aquifer, currently undergoing remediation by extraction of industrial chlorinated hydrocarbon pollutants, is also envisaged. To anticipate the pollution removal efficiency of field biofilter designs, laboratory soil-column simulations were developed by Western Sydney University partnered with the City. Synthetic stormwater containing stoichiometric amounts of high-solubility pollutant salts in deionised water was passed through 104 mm columns that were layered to simulate monophasic and biphasic field designs. Both designs met the City's improvement targets for total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), with >65% median removal efficiency. Prolonged release of total suspended solids (SS) on startup emphasised the need for specifications and testing of proprietary fills. Median removal efficiency for selected heavy metal ecotoxicants was >75%. The researchers suggested that Zinc be added to the targets as proxy for metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and oils/greases co-generated during road use. Simulation results suggested that field units will play an important role in meeting regional stormwater improvement targets.

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Characteristics of Highway Stormwater Runoff in Los Angeles: Metals and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Cited by 60 publications

References 31 publications

Wastewater Treatment Effluent Reduces the Abundance and Diversity of Benthic Bacterial Communities in Urban and Suburban Rivers

Wastewater Treatment Effluent Reduces the Abundance and Diversity of Benthic Bacterial Communities in Urban and Suburban Rivers

Stormwater Management: Calculation of Traffic Area Runoff Loads and Traffic Related Emissions

Pollution Removal Performance of Laboratory Simulations of Sydney’s Street Stormwater Biofilters

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