Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Initial impacts of rain gardens’ application on water quality and quantity in combined sewer: field-scale experiment

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Green infrastructures such as rain gardens can benefit onsite reduction of stormwater runoff, leading to reduced combined sewer overflows. A pilot project was conducted to evaluate the impact of rain gardens on the water quality and volume reduction of storm runoff from urban streets in a combined sewer area. The study took place in a six-block area on South Grand Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. The impact was assessed through a comparison between the pre-construction (2011/2012) and the post-construction (2014) phases. Shortly after the rain gardens were installed, the levels of total suspended solids, chloride, total nitrogen, total phosphorous, zinc, and copper increased. The level of mercury was lower than the detection level in both phases. E. coli was the only parameter that showed statistically significant decrease following the installation of rain gardens. The likely reason for initial increase in monitored water quality parameters is that the post-construction sampling began after the rain gardens were constructed but before planting, resulted from soil erosion and wash-out from the mulch. However, the levels of most of water quality parameters decreased in the following time period during the post-construction phase. The study found 76% volume reduction of stormwater runoff following the installation of rain gardens at one of studied sites. Statistical analysis is essential on collected data because of the encountered high variability of measured flows resulted from low flow conditions in studied sewers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. USEPA. Nutrient Control Design Manual. 2010, EPA/600/R-10/ 100, August 2010, www.epa.gov/nrmrl. Available online at http:// nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi/P1008KTD.PDF?Dockey = P1008KTD.PDF (accessed April 1, 2015)

  2. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD). Combined Sewer Overflow Long-Term Control Plan Update Report. Exhibit MSD 47A, 2011. Available online at http://www.stlmsd.com/longtermcontrolplan (accessed March 31, 2014)

  3. USEPA. Keeping Raw Sewage & Contaminated Stormwater Out of the Public’s water. 2011, Sewer Report 3, USEPA Region 2, New York. Available online at http://www.epa.gov/region2/water/sewerreport-3-2011.pdf (March 13, 2011)

  4. USEPA. Protecting Water Quality from Urban Runoff. Washington, D.C., EPA 841-F-03–003, 2003. Available online at http://www.epa. gov/region2/water/sewer-report-3-2011.pdf (accessed March 13, 2015)

  5. Christianson R, Brown G, Barfield B, Hayes J. Bioretention and Infiltration Devices for Stormwater Control. Advances in Hydro-Science and–Engineering, volume 6, 2004

  6. Roy-Poirier A, Champagne P, Filion Y. Review of bioretention system research and design: past, present, and future. Journal of Environmental Engineering, 2010, 136(9): 878–889

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Davis A P. Field performance of bioretention: water quality. Environmental Engineering Science, 2007, 24(8): 1048–1064

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Davis A P, HuntWF, Traver R G, Clar M. Bioretention technology: overview of current practice and future needs. Journal of Environmental Engineering, 2009, 135(3): 109–117

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Brown R A, Hunt W FIII. Impacts of media depth on effluent water quality and hydrologic performance of undersized bioretention cells. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, 2011, 137(3): 132–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Li H, Davis A P. Water quality improvement through reductions of pollutant loads using bioretention. Journal of Environmental Engineering, 2009, 135(8): 567–576

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Davis A P, Shokouhian M, Sharma H, Minami C. Laboratory study of biological retention for urban stormwater management. Water Environment Research, 2001, 73(1): 5–14

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Davis A P, Shokouhian M, Sharma H, Minami C, Winogradoff D. Water quality improvement through bioretention: lead, copper, and zinc removal. Water Environment Research, 2003, 75(1): 73–82

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Hunt W F, Jarrett A R, Smith J T, Sharkey L J. Evaluating bioretention hydrology and nutrient removal at three field sites in North Carolina. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, 2006, 132 (6): 600–608

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Hunt W F, Smith J T, Jadlocki S J, Hathaway J M, Eubanks P R. Pollutant removal and peak flow mitigation by a bioretention cell in urban charlotte, NC. Journal of Environmental Engineering, 2008, 134(5): 403–408

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Passeport E, Hunt W F, Line D E, Smith R A, Brown R A. Field study of the ability of two grassed bioretention cells to reduce stormwater runoff pollution. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, 2009, 135(4): 505–510

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Wang R, Eckelman M J, Zimmerman J B. Consequential environmental and economic life cycle assessment of green and gray stormwater infrastructures for combined sewer systems. Environmental Science & Technology, 2013, 47(19): 11189–11198

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Heijungs R, Huijbregts M. A Review of Approaches to Treat Uncertainty in LCA. 2004. Available online at http://www.iemss. org/iemss2004/pdf/lca/heijarev.pdf (accessed September 2, 2012)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Montague M, Slovacek P, Reed D. Field Test Procedures. St. Louis: The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, Division of Environmental Compliance, 2009

    Google Scholar 

  19. American Public Health Association (APHA), American Water Works Association (AWWA), Water Environmental Federation (WEF). Standard Methods of the Examination of Water and Wastewater. 20th Ed. Washington, D.C.: American Public Health Association, 1998

  20. USEPA. Methods for Chemical Analysis of Water and Wastes. USEPA/600/4–79/020. 1983. Available online at:http://www.state. in.us/dnr/fishwild/files/Methods_Analysis_Water_Wastes_USEPA_ March1983.pdf (accessed July 14, 2017)

  21. Sawyer C N, McCarty P L, Parkin G F. Chemistry for Environmental Engineering and Science. 5th ed. New York. McGraw-Hill, 2003, ISBN 0–07–248066–1

    Google Scholar 

  22. Alyaseri I, Zhou J. Comparative evaluation of different types of permeable pavement for stormwater reduction-St. Louis green alley pilot study. In: The International Low Impact Development (LID) Conference Proceeding, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), January 19–21, 2015. Houston, Texas: ASCE Library, 2015, 274–284

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  23. De-Winter J C, Dodou D. Five-point Likert items: t test versus Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 2010, 15(11): 1–12

    Google Scholar 

  24. Conover W J. Practical Nonparametric Statistics. 3rd Edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1999, ISBN-13: 978–0471160687

    Google Scholar 

  25. Zimmerman D W. A warning about the large-sample Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test. Understanding Statistics, 2003, 2(4): 267–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Ludbrook J, Dudley H. Why permutation tests are superior to t and F tests in biomedical research. American Statistician, 1998, 52(2): 127–132

    Google Scholar 

  27. Davis A P, Shokouhian M, Sharma H, Minami C. Water quality improvement through bioretention media: nitrogen and phosphorus removal. Water Environment Research, 2006, 78(3): 284–293

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Hsieh C H, Davis A P. Evaluation and optimization of bioretention media for treatment of urban storm water runoff. Journal of Environmental Engineering, 2005, 131(11): 1521–1531

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Hsieh C H, Davis A P. Multiple-event study of bioretention for treatment of urban storm water runoff. Water Science and Technology, 2005, 51(3–4): 177–181

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Dietz M E. Low impact development practices: a review of current research and recommendations for future directions. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 2007, 186(1–4): 351–363

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Corsi S R, De Cicco L A, Lutz M A, Hirsch R M. River chloride trends in snow-affected urban watersheds: increasing concentrations outpace urban growth rate and are common among all seasons. The Science of the Total Environment, 2015, 508(1): 488–497

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Water Environmental Federation (WEF). Stormwater Report: Solving Slick Roads and Salty Streams. Available online at http:// stormwater.wef.org/2015/03/solving-slick-roads-salty-streams/ (accessed March 5, 2015)

  33. USEPA. Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Chloride-1988. EPA 440/5–88–001. National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Springfield, VA,1988. Available online at:http://www.fwspubs.org/ doi/suppl/10.3996/052013-JFWM-033/suppl_file/patnodereference + s4.pdf?code = ufws-site (accessed July 14, 2017)

Download references

Acknowledgements

The project was funded through the East–west Gateway Council of Governments (EWG, project number G11-NPS-04) by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR) under a 319 program from USEPA Region VII. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) provided support and cost-sharing towards this study. The study team thanks Mr. David Wilson of EWG for initiating and guiding this study, Mr. Brian Gibson of Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) for supporting and coordinating water quality sample collection, and Mr. Dave Hirsch for MSD’s supporting the quality assurance work. Mr. John Grimm and Mr. Kyle Winkelman coordinated MSD’s supply of flow and rainfall data. Ms. Azadeh Akhavan Bloorchian, a SIUE graduate student, and Mr. Philip Kreisman, a SIUE undergraduate student, assisted on the project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Al-Muthanna University, Alsamawah, Al-Muthanna, 72001, Iraq

    Isam Alyaseri

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL, 62026, USA

    Isam Alyaseri, Jianpeng Zhou & Susan M. Morgan

  3. Graduate School, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL, 62026, USA

    Susan M. Morgan

  4. Agricultural Statistics Laboratory, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    Andrew Bartlett

Authors
  1. Isam Alyaseri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jianpeng Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Susan M. Morgan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Andrew Bartlett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Isam Alyaseri or Jianpeng Zhou.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Alyaseri, I., Zhou, J., Morgan, S.M. et al. Initial impacts of rain gardens’ application on water quality and quantity in combined sewer: field-scale experiment. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 11, 19 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-017-0988-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-017-0988-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation