Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Restoration of an Urban Creek Water Quality Using Sand and Biochar Filtration Galleries

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Ecocities Now

Abstract

Stormwater runoff from roads and parking lots often contains toxic pollutants which may pose risks to biota in receiving aquatic systems. Low impact development (LID) designs such as rain gardens and infiltration swales can improve stormwater quality. Adding biochar as a soil amendment or standalone filtration layer can enhance pollutant removal. Biochar exhibits surface properties, allowing for high sorption of inorganic and organic toxic pollutants such as heavy metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, and pesticides. Biochar production is cost-effective and can be an environmentally sustainable technology. The objective of this paper is to investigate the efficacy of biochar as a filtration media for removing naphthalene, copper, and zinc found in a heavy use parking lot in Burnaby, BC, Canada. A commercially available biochar was used as the filtration media, while sand was used as a benchmark filtration media. Effects of runoff pH, contaminant concentrations, total organic carbon concentration, and biochar size on removal efficiency were examined. Filtration experiments using biochar showed high copper and zinc removal similar to sand. However, biochar filters showed a higher naphthalene removal efficiency compared to sand. Results from the study showed that biochar is a promising filtration media for LIDs in storm water source control designs.

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

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Beesley, Luke, and Marta Marmiroli. 2011. The immobilization and retention of soluble arsenic, cadmium and zinc by biochar. Environmental Pollution 159 (2): 474–480.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borchardt, Dietrich, and Frank Sperling. 1997. Urban stormwater discharges: Ecological effects on receiving waters and consequences for technical measures. Water Science and Technology 36: 173–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, Lizabeth, Inge Werner, and Michael Johnson. 2006. Physiological and behavioral effects of zinc and temperature on coho salmon (Oncorhynchus Kisutch). Hydrobiologia 559 (1): 161–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, Jeffrey N., and Barrie M. Peake. 2006. Sources of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban stormwater runoff. Science of the Total Environment 359 (1): 145–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erickson, Andrew J., Peter T. Weiss, and John S. Gulliver. 2013. Optimizing stormwater treatment practices: A handbook of assessment and maintenance. New York: Springer Science Business Media.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Eriksson, E., A. Baun, L. Scholes, A. Ledin, S. Ahlman, M. Revitt, C. Noutsopoulos, and P.S. Mikkelsen. 2007. Selected stormwater priority pollutants: A European perspective. Science of the Total Environment 383 (1): 41–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goonetilleke, Ashantha, Thomas Evan, Ginn Simon, and Dale Gilbert. 2005. Understanding the role of land use in urban stormwater quality management. Journal of Environmental Management 74: 31–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heintzman Lucas, J., Todd A. Anderson, Deborah L. Carr, and Nancy E. Mclntyre. 2015. Local and landscape influences on PAH contamination in urban stormwater. Landscape and Urban Planning, Special Issue: Critical Approaches to Landscape Visualization 142: 29–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang, Tian-Yu, Jun Jiang, Ren K. Xu, and Zhuo Li. 2012. Adsorption of Pb (II) on variable charge soils amended with rice-straw derived biochar. Chemosphere 89:249–256.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karami, Nadia, Rafael Clemente, Eduardo Moreno-Jiménez, Nicholas W. Lepp, and Luke Beesley. 2011. Efficiency of green waste compost and biochar soil amendments for reducing lead and copper mobility and uptake to ryegrass. Journal of Hazardous Materials 191 (1–3): 41–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, Christopher J., Pierre Stecko, Bob Truelson, and David Petkovich. 2012. Dissolved organic carbon modulates the effects of copper on olfactory-mediated behaviors of chinook salmon. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 31 (10): 2281–2288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, Richard. 1979. Urbanization and stream quality impairment. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association 15: 948–963.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Komkiene, J., and Edita Baltrenaite. 2015. Biochar as adsorbent for removal of heavy metal ions [cadmium(II), copper(II), lead(II), zinc(II)] from aqueous phase. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology (IJEST) 13 (2): 471–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kong, Huoliang, Jiao He, Yanzheng Gao, Wu. Huifang, and Xuezhu Zhu. 2011. Co-sorption of phenanthrene and mercury (II) from aqueous solution by soybean stalk-based biochar. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 59 (22): 12116–12123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lau, Sim-Lin., and Michael K. Stenstrom. 2005. Metals and PAHs adsorbed to street particles. Water Resources 39: 4083–4092.

    Google Scholar 

  • McIntyre, Jenifer K., David H. Baldwin, David A. Beauchamp, and Nathaniel L. Scholz. 2012. Low-level copper exposures increase visibility and vulnerability of juvenile coho salmon to cutthroat trout predators. Ecological Applications 22 (5): 1460–1471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mendez, Ana, A. Gomez, Jorge Paz-Ferreiro, and G. Gasco. 2012. Effects of biochar from sewage sludge pyrolysis on mediterranean agricultural soils. Chemosphere 89: 1354–1359.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. 2018. British columbia approved water quality guidelines: Aquatic life. Summary Report: Wildlife and Agriculture.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murakami, Michio, Fumiyuki Nakajima, and Hiroaki Furumai. 2004. Modeling of runoff behavior of particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from roads and roofs. Water Resources 38: 4475–4483.

    Google Scholar 

  • Park, John H., Ju.S. Cho, Yong S. Ok, Seong H. Kim, Se. W. Kang, Ik. W. Choi, Jong S. Heo, Ronald D. Delaune, and Dong C. Seo. 2015. Competitive adsorption and selectivity sequence of heavy metals by chicken bone-derived biochar: Batch and column experiment. Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part a 50 (11): 1194–1204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sirova, Viktoria. 2015. Urban stormwater management: treatment of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with bioretention and permeable pavement technologies, 247. Master’s Projects: University of San Francisco, Paper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sohi, Saran P. 2012. Carbon storage with benefits. Science 338: 1034–1035.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stephens, Kim, and Jim Dumont. 2011. Rainwater management in a watershed context. Stormwater 12 (8): 38–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tan, Xiaofei, Yunguo Liu, Guangming Zeng, Xin Wang, Hu. Xinjiang, Gu. Yanling, and Zhongzhu Yang. 2015. Application of biochar for the removal of pollutants from aqueous solutions. Chemosphere 125: 70–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • USEPA 2013. Priority pollutants. Appendix A to 40 CFR Part 423. Washington, D.C.: United States Environmental Protection Agency.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, Christopher J., Tim D. Fletcher, and Matthew J. Burns. 2012. Urban stormwater runoff: A new class of environmental flow problem. PLoS ONE 7 (9): e45814.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, Cristopher J., Allison H. Roy, Jack W. Feminella, Peter D. Cottingham, Peter M. Groffman, and Raymond P. Morgan. 2005. The urban stream syndrome: Current knowledge and the search for a cure. Journal of the North American Benthology Society. 24 (3): 706–723.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Wentao, Staci L. Massey, Miao Xue Simonich, Jingyu Zhao, Na. Zhang, Rong Wang, Jun Cao, and Shu Tao. 2010. Concentration, sources and spatial distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soils from Beijing, Tianjin and surrounding areas, North China. Environmental Pollution 158: 1245–1251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu, R.K., S.C. Xiao, J.H. Yuan, and A.Z. Zhao. 2011. Adsorption of methyl violet from aqueous solutions by the biochars derived from crop residues. Bioresource Technology 102 (22): 10293–10298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xue, Yingwrn, Bin Gao, Ying Yao, Mandu Inyang, Ming Zhang, Andrew R. Zimmerman, and Kyoung S. Ro. 2012. Hydrogen peroxide modification enhances the ability of biochar (hydrochar) produced from hydrothermal carbonization of peanut hull to remove aqueous heavy metals: batch and column tests. Chemical Engineering Journal 200: 673–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, Hongtao, Chengqing Yin, Meixue Chen, Weindong Wang, and Chris Jefferies. 2009. Size distribution and diffuse pollution impacts of PAHs in street dust in urban streams in the Yangtze River Delta. Journal of Environmental Science 21: 162–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng, Wei, Mingxin Guo, Teresa Chow, Douglas N. Bennett, and Nandakishore Rajagopalan. 2010. Sorption properties of green waste biochar for two triazine pesticides. Journal of Hazardous Materials 181 (1–3): 121–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the following individuals for their assistance on the projects: Kevin Soulsbury from Dept. Chemistry and Ray Daxon from Dept. Civil Engineering at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. British Columbia Institute of Technology, Burnaby, Canada

    Samira Jalizi, Ken Ashley & Colleen C. V. Chan

Authors
  1. Samira Jalizi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ken Ashley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Colleen C. V. Chan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Samira Jalizi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. British Columbia Institute of Technology, Burnaby, BC, Canada

    Jennie Moore

  2. Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

    Sahar Attia

  3. Trend Green Knowledge Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Adel Abdel-Kader

  4. AN Design, Habitat Studio, Chennai, India

    Aparajithan Narasimhan

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Jalizi, S., Ashley, K., Chan, C.C.V. (2020). Restoration of an Urban Creek Water Quality Using Sand and Biochar Filtration Galleries. In: Moore, J., Attia, S., Abdel-Kader, A., Narasimhan, A. (eds) Ecocities Now. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58399-6_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58399-6_11

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-58398-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-58399-6

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation