Browsing by Subject "stormwater"
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Item 2022 Annual Highlights of the Minnesota Stormwater Research Program and Minnesota Stormwater Research Council(2022-07) Billotta, John2022 Highlights of the Minnesota Stormwater Research ProgramItem 2023 Annual Highlights of the Minnesota Stormwater Research Program and Minnesota Stormwater Research Council(2023-07-12) Billotta, John2023 Highlights of the Minnesota Stormwater Research ProgramItem Analysis of stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces in downtown Minneapolis, MN(2021-09) Faust, BrittanyUrban stormwater runoff is a major concern for water quality. Impervious surfaces, especially in urban environments, can allow contaminated stormwater direct access to receiving waterbodies. Impervious surfaces make up nearly 90% of land cover in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. When rain falls or snow melts, pollutants quickly transfer from those surfaces into nearby waterways. A study of stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota USA was conducted to understand potential impacts of different types of impervious surfaces (i.e., streets, sidewalks, parking lots and rooftops). The results of this study could be used to inform urban stormwater management strategies, particularly when the makeup of the area is mostly impervious surfaces. Between summer 2017 and spring 2018, a rainfall simulator was used to deliver water upon street, sidewalk, and parking lot sites, which removed differences in rainfall characteristics, and tested the role of varying surface types and seasonal differences. Characteristics of rooftop runoff were studied using natural rainfall and snowmelt event data collected year-round with automated samplers and rain gauges. Results showed that the first flush of runoff contained higher pollutant concentrations compared to the whole rain event, and water quality differences for all of the surfaces were relatively minor for the summer and fall seasons. The greatest difference was observed with higher pollutant concentrations occurring in the spring for all sites, particularly on streets. Higher than expected concentrations of chloride in the winter occurred from roofs, though concentrations were overall much smaller than the ground sites in the spring. Street event mean concentrations (EMCs) were the highest across different stormwater constituents, including chloride, total phosphorus, and total suspended solids. For each stormwater constituent, when the average EMC value was used for calculating pollutant loading instead of individual surface type EMC values, street contributions were underestimated, and the other surface types were overestimated due to the higher pollutant concentrations from streets than other impervious surfaces.Item Assessment of Internal Phosphorus Release and Treatment with Iron Filings in five RPBCWD Ponds(University of Minnesota, College of Science and Engineering, 2022-06) Natarajan, Poornima; Gulliver, John S.Five ponds, Aquila Pond (in Bloomington), Pond BC-P4.10C (in Chanhassen), Bren Pond (in Eden Prairie), Pond 849_W (in Minnetonka) and Pond 42 (in Shorewood), were evaluated in this two-part study. a) In the first part of the study, the potential anoxic sediment phosphorus release was evaluated using laboratory sediment cores. A moderately-high flux of phosphate was measured under anoxic conditions, which was supported by high sediment oxygen demand and high organic matter content in the sediments. A low oxic flux was observed only for Pond BC-P4.10C and Bren Pond sediments, indicating mobilization of organic P by bacteria. Detailed sediment phosphorus characterization revealed low to moderate concentrations of mobile P (redox-P + labile organic P) mass, which is releasable under low oxygen conditions and by microbacterial degradation under both oxic and anoxic conditions. The relative mobile P mass (as % of the total sediment phosphorus mass) was 53% in Aquila Pond, 43% in Pond BC-P4.10 C, 47% in Bren Pond, 41% in Pond 42, and 63% in Pond 849_W, highlighting the importance of mobile phosphorus in driving internal phosphorus loading during anoxia in the ponds. b) In situ monitoring of surface to bottom DO and temperature profiles in the ponds were indicative of a stratified water column that was anoxic from top to bottom during much of the summer period. The observation of pervasive anoxia was common in Pond BC-P4.10C, Bren Pond, Pond 849_W, and Pond 42 during all three field seasons, as indicated by the relatively high summer anoxic factor (AF) for these ponds. Aquila Pond appeared to partially mix intermittently although bottom DO was still low during certain periods. c) All five pond sites had floating vegetation (duckweed and watermeal) that had a dense surface coverage (nearly 100%) from June to September. We have found strong evidence of duckweed cover influencing the DO dynamics in several ponds and have observed a strong pattern between summer anoxic factor and duckweed cover in our pond research projects. It is possible that the effect of duckweed may be exacerbated in dry years (like 2021) when stormwater inputs to provide direct mixing are less frequent. d) The application of iron filings was utilized to reduce phosphate release from the pond sediments. Ponds BC-P4.10C and 849_W were treated with iron filings in February 2020 and Bren Pond was treated in February 2020. Aquila Pond can be used as a control for the RPBCWD region, where surface water TP was seen to increase greatly from 2019 to 2020, and then stayed about the same in 2021. In Pond BC-P4.10C, the average TP went up after treatment with iron filings in February 2020, but not as substantially as the Aquila Pond. In Bren Pond, the average TP had a slight reduction in all three years. In Pond 849_W, the average TP went up in 2020 but then reduced in 2021. A similar reduction can be seen in comparing average TP for Shoreview Commons Pond (a fourth iron-treated pond located in the Ramsey Washington Metro Watershed District) to the Alameda Pond (located in v Roseville), where Shoreview Commons had a reduced average TP in 2021 after iron filings addition and the Alameda Pond, with no iron filings addition, did not. e) The analysis of the iron-treated sediments from Pond BC-P4.10C, Pond 849_W, and Bren Pond showed an increase in the iron-bound P mass and a concomitant decrease in the mass of labile organic P and loosely-bound P after iron filings application to the sediments, suggesting the partial or full movement of phosphate from the organic P form and loosely- bound P to iron-phosphate minerals in the sediments. The iron-treated sediment cores from Bren Pond exhibited an anoxic phosphate flux that was significantly lower than the phosphate flux from untreated sediments. f) While the column studies confirmed that sediment phosphate flux was controlled after iron addition, the reduction in internal phosphorus loading in the ponds was not directly assessed. The post-treatment water quality data showed reductions in SRP levels (surface and epilimnion) at the three iron-treated ponds but did not conclusively show reductions in TP levels, specifically in ponds BC-P4.10C and 849_W. The interpretation and assessment of treatment effectiveness is complicated by the year-to-year variation in pond water quality driven by rainfall patterns and runoff inputs among other factors, especially in ponds BC- P4.10C and 849_W, which have pretreatment data for only one year before iron filings were applied. Treatment of the ponds will likely require a combination of remediation techniques such as sealing the sediments from phosphate flux, aeration to enhance mixing and watershed-based phosphorus control actions to reduce the inflow of TP. Aeration may work well in Pond 849_W, which has a small amount of inflow or outflow.Item Comparing Properties of Alternative Media for Stormwater Biofilters(2017-05) Swanson, JoshuaAbstract This study includes the classification and characterization of alternative biofiltration media. Materials were evaluated using a series of standardized tests. The performance and physical properties of alternative media were then compared to the currently specified biofiltration mixture of compost and sand. Results from laboratory testing reveal that compost and peat have similar physical properties and infiltrate and retain water at similar rates. Muck soils were found to be inferior to compost by the same performance criteria. These results indicate that peat soils may be a viable alternative to compost for use as a soil additive for biofiltration devices. This study also included the design of field test plots and the configuration of remote field monitoring equipment. The construction of six field test plots comparing compost and peat added as a soil amendment are described. Instrumentation was configured to collect long-term rainfall and water-storage data to evaluate performance in-situ.Item Final report and simulation program for "Monitoring Methods for Prioritization and Assessment of Stormwater Practices"(2022) Furuta, Daniel; Wilson, Bruce; Chapman, John; University of Minnesota Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems EngineeringThis project developed a framework for simulating stormwater sampling and for evaluating the performance of monitoring methods for runoff pollution. This submission contains the final report and a self-contained program practitioners can use to compare sampling methods, along with source code for the simulation program.Item Green Infrastructure Systems as part of the Solution for Flooding in Panama(2020-12) Aizpurua Miranda, NathalyThis study aims to find solutions to mitigate the problem of flooding in Panama City. This was conducted in order to create a support containing Green Stormwater Infrastructures methods and proposals to guide the community towards more sustainable development. Panama has been notoriously affected by climate change, especially in terms of rainfall. There have been alterations in the rainfall regime that together with other factors such as pollution by disposals have caused serious problems of flooding in the capital city.However, there are limitations such as the lack of soil studies and non-easily accessible environmental information, among other things, which complicate the collection of information for a more in-depth study on which methods would be more feasible according to the sector. Hence, one of the areas most affected by the floods (Juan Diaz Township and Domingo Diaz Av) was chosen as a case study, thus demonstrating that despite being an already developed area, small changes can be made to generate a great impact. The paper can also be improved by collecting site-specific data, such as the percentage of evapotranspiration, more in-depth studies on types of plants that benefit green infrastructure systems, among others, but more time and money would have to be invested to obtain quick results . Future researchers can use this work as a starting point for the application of these systems in Panama.Item MSRC2019: Mass, moisture, nitrogen, and phosphorus in street sweepings collected from five cities in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota(2020-09-21) Hobbie, Sarah E.; Baker, Lawrence A.; Finlay, Jacques C.; shobbie@umn.edu; Hobbie, Sarah E; Departments of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, and Bioproducts & Biosystems EngineeringQuality of many urban water bodies is impaired because of phosphorus (P) loading from stormwater runoff. Trees near impervious surfaces contribute significantly to this P loading. Mounting evidence indicates that street sweeping, by removing nutrient-rich litterfall from streets, can effectively reduce inputs of pollutants to stormwater and reduce maintenance of downstream BMPs. Yet, street sweeping remains an underdeveloped BMP for P source reduction, as currently there is no easily implementable method for crediting sweeping practices that is approved by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). Thus, water quality credits for street sweeping practices are typically not applied to permit conditions such as Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) Waste Load Allocations in Minnesota. Through a UMN-MPCA-city partnership, we collected data on street sweeping loads including: sweeper volume, wet mass of solids, dry mass of solids, and nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in sweepings and loads removed by different street sweeper types throughout the snow-free season (spring, summer, fall), across the range of tree canopy covers and species composition typical of Minnesota’s cities. Partner cities included Forest Lake, Minneapolis, Prior Lake, Roseville, and Shoreview.Item Occurences and Temporal Dynamics of Pathogens and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Different Stormwater Reuse Systems(2021-12) Walsky, TamaraStormwater is increasingly considered as an alternative water source for both potable and non-potable uses. However, stormwater has not been widely used as an alternative water source, primarily due to a lack of knowledge about the presence and risks associated with pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes present in raw and treated stormwater and how these populations change with environmental conditions. In my thesis research, five different stormwater reuse systems (SRS) in the Twin Cities metro area were sampled from every three weeks from June to October 2019 to build a comprehensive data set for analysis of temporal dynamics of pathogens and metal and antibiotic resistance genes (MRG/ARG) in raw and treated stormwater samples. As a follow up, two sites were time intensively sampled (i.e., sampled every 20-40 minutes as the SRS ran and water flowed through to irrigate fields) twice in summer 2020, along with tap water and lake water control sites. Microfluidic qPCR, a high-throughput quantification tool provided microbial data for 23 bacterial pathogens, 11 viral pathogens and 48 MRG/ARGs along with physiochemical testing such as turbidity, free and total chlorine, and water temperature to evaluate environmental conditions. Correlations between pathogen and MRG/ARG levels and environmental parameters such as temperature and precipitation assess the impact of precipitation and other environmental variables on pathogen and MRG/ARG concentrations in stormwater both over the season (2019 research) and during an average run where hundreds to thousands of gallons of water may be used (2020 research.) Viral and bacterial pathogens were sporadically detected both years while MRG/ARGs were widely detected. Environmental variables loosely correlated along known patterns with Fecal Indicator Bacteria (FIB) but did not account for any variation and lack of distinguished patterns seen in the data. The system with UV treatment and the system with a ball and bag filter sufficiently eliminated E. coli and limited the concentrations of MRG/ARG/pathogen genes, whereas the chlorinated system did not. SRS without any microbial treatment had no effect on cultured FIB and concentrations of MRG/ARG/pathogen genes. These results will provide previously unknown information crucial to successful expansion of stormwater reuse, especially for uses with greater human exposure.Item Performance of Low Impact Development Practices on Stormwater Pollutant Load Abatement(St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, 2011-08) Ahmed, Farzana; Gulliver, John S.; Nieber, John L.Stormwater runoff is a major contributor to the impairment of surface waters in the United States. With high connected impervious surfaces and concentrated human activities, urban land uses are involved in discharging most of the stormwater volume and pollutant loadings during a storm. Stormwater pollution prevention involves the installation and maintenance of stormwater low impact development (LID) practices in urban areas. These include infiltration basins and trenches, porous pavements, rain gardens, vegetative swales, and filter strips. LID practices infiltrate and detain stormwater to reduce stormwater runoff volume and improve water quality via filtration and other processes. The reasons for assessing the performance of the LID practices include fulfilling stormwater permit regulatory requirements, engineering and design due diligence, scheduling maintenance and TMDL studies. The results of the assessment allow for an improved understanding of the role of the various system components (i.e. soil, plants, etc.) in pollutant removal and volume reduction. This project is designed to assist MS4s in the assessment of their stormwater BMPs and the utilization of these BMPs in watershed TMDL analyses. Objective B of this project focuses on the infiltration performance of low impact development (LID) practices. The infiltration capacity testing developed for rain gardens (Asleson, et al. 2009) was to be refined, altered and expanded for other types of LID practices including infiltration basins and trenches, vegetative swales and filter strips. The Modified Philip Dunne (MPD) infiltrometer is implemented as a low-effort, low-cost method to determine saturated hydraulic conductivity, a predictor of infiltration capacity. This infiltration tests have been performed on rain gardens, infiltration basin, swales and turf areas.Item Photochemical Data of Stormflow Samples Collected Near Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota from 2014-September to 2015-October(2017-08-24) McCabe, Andrew J; Arnold, William A; arnol032@umn.edu; Arnold, William AStormflow samples were collected from 31 sites near Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota between 2014-September and 2015-October. Optical and photochemical parameters of the samples were measured under controlled laboratory conditions. The data were collected to better understand the way in which land cover with variable levels of human impact influence the formation rate and yield of triplet excited states of dissolved natural organic matter (3DOM*). Rates of formation (Rf,T) and apparent quantum yields (AQYT) were measured for 3DOM* using the chemical probe, 2,4,6-trimethylphenol, under a broadband xenon-arc lamp with a 290-nm wavelength filter.Item Stormwater Infiltration Siting for the City of Edina(Resilient Communities Project (RCP), University of Minnesota, 2022) Anderson, Karina; Burket, Martha; Gallagher, Noah; Turner, OwenThis project was completed as part of a partnership between the City of Edina and the University of Minnesota’s Resilient Communities Project (http://rcp.umn.edu). The goal of this project was to identify areas where stormwater infiltration is both technically feasible and protective of the community’s drinking water source. City of Edina project lead Jessica Wilson collaborated with a team of students in Robert Krussow's course CEGE 4102W in the U of MN College of Science and Engineering to create an ArcGIS-based mapping tool to evaluate the suitability of areas for infiltration-based stormwater control measures. A final student report and presentation slides from the project are available.Item Using Urban Forestry Practices to Reduce Stormwater Runoff(2010) Peterson, PaulThis study reviews the current thought and literature on urban watershed forestry and explains how increasing total forest canopy cover in an urban watershed will result in a corresponding decrease in stormwater runoff. The American Forests CITYGreen urban forestry model is applied to two sub-watersheds in the Vadnais Lake watershed, Ramsey County, Minnesota, to predict the outcome of applying urban watershed forestry practices. Results indicated a positive correlation between an increase in urban forest canopy cover and a reduction in volume of stormwater flow from precipitation events.