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Stabilization of Stormwater Biofilters: Impacts of Wetting and Drying Phases and the Addition of Organic Matter to Filter Media

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Abstract

Ripening period refers to a phase of stabilization in sand filters in water treatment systems that follow a new installation or cleaning of the filter. Intermittent wetting and drying, a unique property of stormwater biofilters, would similarly be subjected to a phase of stabilization. Suspended solids are an important parameter that is often used to monitor the stabilization of sand filters in water treatment systems. Stormwater biofilters, however, contain organic material that is added to the filter layer to enhance nitrate removal, the dynamics of which is seldom analyzed in stabilization of stormwater biofilters. Therefore, in this study of stormwater biofiltration in addition to suspended solids (turbidity), organic matter (TOC, DOC, TN, and TKN) was also monitored as a parameter for stabilization of the stormwater biofilter. One Perspex bioretention column (94 mm internal diameter) was fabricated with filter layer that contained 8 % organic material and fed with tapwater with different antecedent dry days (0–40 day) at 100 mL/min. Samples were collected from the outflow at different time intervals between 2 and 150 min and were tested for total organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, total nitrogen, total Kjeldhal nitrogen, and turbidity. The column was observed to experience two phases of stabilization, one at the beginning of each event that lasted for 30 min, while the other phase was observed across subsequent events that are related to the age of filter.

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Abbreviations

ADD:

Antecedent dry days

EN:

Event number

min2, min7, min12, min20, min30, min60, min90, min120, and min150:

Concentration of pollutant in the outflow at 2, 7, 12, 20, 30, 60, 90, 120, and 150 min, respectively, from the beginning of outflow

Cpollutant :

Concentration of pollutant

TOC:

Total organic carbon

DOC:

Dissolved organic carbon

TN:

Total nitrogen

TKN:

Total Kjeldhal nitrogen

TU:

Turbidity

ZTOC, ZTN, and ZTU:

Z-scores of TOC, TN, and TU, respectively

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Acknowledgment

I would like to thank River Sands Pty Ltd, Australia, for supplying the stormwater biofilter packing material for my experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia

    D. N. Subramaniam, P. Egodawatta, P. Mather & J. P. Rajapakse

  2. 02 George Street, GPO BOX 2434, Brisbane, QLD, 4001, Australia

    D. N. Subramaniam

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  1. D. N. Subramaniam
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  2. P. Egodawatta
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  3. P. Mather
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  4. J. P. Rajapakse
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Correspondence to D. N. Subramaniam.

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Subramaniam, D.N., Egodawatta, P., Mather, P. et al. Stabilization of Stormwater Biofilters: Impacts of Wetting and Drying Phases and the Addition of Organic Matter to Filter Media. Environmental Management 56, 630–642 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-015-0530-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-015-0530-0

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