Comment on “Suburban watershed nitrogen retention: Estimating the effectiveness of stormwater management structures” by Koch et al. (Elem Sci Anth 3:000063, July 2015)

• Main Author: Christopher J. Walsh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BioOne 2015-12-01
• Series: Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene
• Subjects: Stormwater; nitrogen export; uncertainty
• Online Access: http://elementascience.org/article/info:doi/10.12952/journal.elementa.000077

Abstract I reassess a recent analysis of uncertainty in estimates of nitrogen export from stormwater control measures, using structured expert judgment, which concluded that nitrogen export from a watershed in the Piedmont physiographic province of the Chesapeake Bay basin was an order of magnitude greater than from a watershed in the adjacent the Coastal Plain province. Re-analysis of expert responses suggests that hydrographic measurement error is a likely large source of uncertainty in N export from one of the watersheds. Mass-balance estimates of impervious runoff into stormwater drainage systems suggest that nitrogen export from the Coastal Plain watershed is an order of magnitude larger than estimated. This analysis highlights the importance of stormwater drainage infrastructure in driving the hydrology of streams in urban catchments by quarantining impervious runoff from watershed soils.