The Impact of Green Infrastructure on Stormwater Quality: A Sewershed-Scale Analysis of the Effects of Blueprint Columbus on Nutrients, Sediments, and Metals

The Impact of Green Infrastructure on Stormwater Quality: A Sewershed-Scale Analysis of the Effects of Blueprint Columbus on Nutrients, Sediments, and Metals

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Smith, Joseph Stephen
Language:English
Published: The Ohio State University / OhioLINK 2020
Subjects:
Civil Engineering
Ecology
Environmental Engineering
Environmental Science
Urban Planning
Online Access:http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1587651880895345
id ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu1587651880895345
record_format oai_dc
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
topic Civil Engineering
Ecology
Environmental Engineering
Environmental Science
Urban Planning
spellingShingle Civil Engineering
Ecology
Environmental Engineering
Environmental Science
Urban Planning
Smith, Joseph Stephen
The Impact of Green Infrastructure on Stormwater Quality: A Sewershed-Scale Analysis of the Effects of Blueprint Columbus on Nutrients, Sediments, and Metals
author Smith, Joseph Stephen
author_facet Smith, Joseph Stephen
author_sort Smith, Joseph Stephen
title The Impact of Green Infrastructure on Stormwater Quality: A Sewershed-Scale Analysis of the Effects of Blueprint Columbus on Nutrients, Sediments, and Metals
title_short The Impact of Green Infrastructure on Stormwater Quality: A Sewershed-Scale Analysis of the Effects of Blueprint Columbus on Nutrients, Sediments, and Metals
title_full The Impact of Green Infrastructure on Stormwater Quality: A Sewershed-Scale Analysis of the Effects of Blueprint Columbus on Nutrients, Sediments, and Metals
title_fullStr The Impact of Green Infrastructure on Stormwater Quality: A Sewershed-Scale Analysis of the Effects of Blueprint Columbus on Nutrients, Sediments, and Metals
title_full_unstemmed The Impact of Green Infrastructure on Stormwater Quality: A Sewershed-Scale Analysis of the Effects of Blueprint Columbus on Nutrients, Sediments, and Metals
title_sort impact of green infrastructure on stormwater quality: a sewershed-scale analysis of the effects of blueprint columbus on nutrients, sediments, and metals
publisher The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
publishDate 2020
url http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1587651880895345
work_keys_str_mv AT smithjosephstephen theimpactofgreeninfrastructureonstormwaterqualityasewershedscaleanalysisoftheeffectsofblueprintcolumbusonnutrientssedimentsandmetals
AT smithjosephstephen impactofgreeninfrastructureonstormwaterqualityasewershedscaleanalysisoftheeffectsofblueprintcolumbusonnutrientssedimentsandmetals
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spelling ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu15876518808953452021-08-03T07:14:40Z The Impact of Green Infrastructure on Stormwater Quality: A Sewershed-Scale Analysis of the Effects of Blueprint Columbus on Nutrients, Sediments, and Metals Smith, Joseph Stephen Civil Engineering Ecology Environmental Engineering Environmental Science Urban Planning The discharge of pollutants to surface waters via stormwater runoff is a societal challenge. Among other impacts, these pollutants cause harmful algal blooms and eutrophication resulting in degraded water quality, threats to public health and potable water, and reduced tourism, cultural activities, and coastal economies. Waterborne pollutants can be unsightly, including plastics, garbage, and sediment, or less visible, including nutrients and soluble metals. Stormwater runoff is a major source of nutrients, sediment, and metals to aquatic ecosystems. Green infrastructure (GI) is a novel way to reduce stormwater to improve water quality to protect ecosystems, public health, and coastal economies. While the ability for GI to reduce stormwater pollution has been demonstrated for single installations and at a smaller scale of less than 10 ha, there are still important unknowns about water quality benefits of a network of GI across entire sewersheds. These questions were the focus of this research. GI reduces directly connected impervious area through the use of stormwater control measures including bioretention cells and permeable pavement. Using soil and plants as natural filters, these solutions have been shown to individually improve water quality. This improvement is made possible by increasing sewershed storage and infiltration to counter impermeable surfaces typical in urban areas. As part of the Blueprint Columbus project, several hundred bioretention cells and 8,000 square meters of permeable pavement roads have been implemented in the Clintonville neighborhood of Columbus, OH. The effects of bioretention and permeable pavement on sewershed-scale water quality are the focus of this thesis. Also, redirecting downspouts, implementing sump pumps, and lining sanitary sewer laterals have been used to lessen sanitary sewer overflows, and large underground tunnels built to lessen combines sewer overflows; however, these project phases have not reached completion and will be the focus of future research.Using automated samplers, event mean water quality samples were collected and analyzed for nutrients, sediment, and metals over three and a half years at the outfall of three sewersheds (11.5 to 111.5 ha) located in the Clintonville neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. Tipping bucket rain gauges and flow meters were utilized to characterize sewershed hydrology. Storm event pollutant loads were calculated as the product of this event mean pollutant concentration and measured stormwater runoff volume. GI was installed in two sewersheds while the third served as a control to account for annual and seasonal changes in rainfall, runoff, and pollutant generation. A before-after, control-impact paired sewershed approach was applied to obtain a robust comparison of pollutant concentrations and loads before and after the installation of GI. Total nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended solid concentrations decreased by 13.7-24.1, 20.9-47.4, and 61.6-67.7%, respectively. Load reductions for these pollutants were in the range of 24.0-25.4, 27.8-32.6, and 59.5-78.3%, respectively. Significant reduction in both particulate and dissolved pollutants were observed due to GI installation at a sewershed scale. Lead, copper, and zinc concentrations decreased in the range of 25.2-58.3% and loads in the range of 21.3-52.3%. Storm event loads were significantly reduced for every heavy metal analyzed herein. Although bioretention was designed to treat a 19 mm storm event, substantial TSS, Cu and Pb reductions were observed for storm events beyond this threshold. Since these results are for 1 or 2 years following the installation of GI, inherent limitations exist with sampling size, especially when trying to make statistical conclusions with 1 year of post-GI data. Sustained monitoring will be needed to evaluate future impacts of the system on water quality and effects of GI as it matures. Additional research is required to measure biological processes occurring within individual GI practices, to recommend optimum GI planting and maintenance, and to understand how water quality parameters change with aging GI. 2020-10-02 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1587651880895345 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1587651880895345 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

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