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Nitrogen process in stormwater bioretention: the impact of alternate drying and rewetting on nitrogen migration and transformation

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Abstract

Nitrogen migration and transformation in the stormwater bioretention system were studied in laboratory experiments, in which the effects of drying-rewetting were particularly investigated. The occurrence and distribution of nitrogen in the plants, the soil, and the pore water were explored under different drying-rewetting cycles. The results clearly showed that bioretention system could remove nitrogen efficiently in all drying-rewetting cycles. The incoming nitrogen could be retained in the topsoil (0–10 cm) and accumulated in the planted layer. However, the overlong dry periods (12 and 22 days) cause an increase in nitrate in the pore water. In addition, nitrogen is mostly stored in the plants’ stem tissues. Up to 23.26% of the inflowing nitrogen can be immobilized in plant tissues after a dry period of 22 days. In addition, the relationships between nitrogen reductase activity in the soil and soil nitrogen content were explored. The increase of soil TN content could enhance the activity of nitrate reductase. Meanwhile, the activity of hydroxylamine reductase (HyR) could be enhanced with the increase of soil NO3− content. These results provide a reference for the future development of nitrogen transformation mechanism and the construction of stormwater bioretention systems.

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Data availability

Present study data are available with corresponding author and are available on reasonable request.

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Funding

The authors are grateful for the financial support provided by the Natural Science Foundation of China (51709024), the Science and Technology Research Program of Chongqing Science and Technology Commission (cstc2017jcyjAX0292), and Venture & Innovation Support Program for Chongqing Overseas Returnees (cx2017065).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of River and Ocean Engineering, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing, 400074, China

    Yao Chen, Renyu Chen, Zhen Liu, Xuehua Yu, Shuang Zheng & Shaochun Yuan

  2. Engineering Laboratory of Environmental Hydraulic Engineering of Chongqing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing, 400074, China

    Yao Chen, Zhen Liu & Shaochun Yuan

Authors
  1. Yao Chen
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  2. Renyu Chen
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  3. Zhen Liu
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  4. Xuehua Yu
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  5. Shuang Zheng
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  6. Shaochun Yuan
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Contributions

RC, XY: data curation and formal analysis. SZ, SY: literature search. YC, ZL: editing and review. All authors wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yao Chen or Zhen Liu.

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Highlights

• N could be removed by bioretention systems under extreme drying/rewetting condition

• The N transformation under multiplicity drying/rewetting conditions was clarified

• The increase of soil TN content could enhance the activity of nitrate reductase

• Hydroxylamine reductase activity could be enhanced with the increase of soil NO3− content

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Chen, Y., Chen, R., Liu, Z. et al. Nitrogen process in stormwater bioretention: the impact of alternate drying and rewetting on nitrogen migration and transformation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 43803–43814 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13802-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13802-z

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