Impact of Green Stormwater Infrastructure Age and Type on Water Quality

Cara Poor, Troy Membrere and Jared Miyasato
Additional contact information
Cara Poor: Shiley School of Engineering, University of Portland, Portland, OR 97203, USA
Troy Membrere: Shiley School of Engineering, University of Portland, Portland, OR 97203, USA
Jared Miyasato: Shiley School of Engineering, University of Portland, Portland, OR 97203, USA

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-14

Abstract: Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) has become increasingly common to mitigate urban stormwater runoff. However, there is limited research on the impact of age and type of GSI. This study evaluated nutrient and metals concentrations in the soil water of five different GSI systems located at the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon. The GSI systems included a bioretention curb extension (part of Portland’s Green Street project), a bioretention basin, a bioretention planter, an infiltration basin, and a bioswale ranging in age from 2 to 11 years. Samples were taken from each system during rain events over a 10-month period and analyzed for copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), phosphate (PO 4 3− ), and total phosphorus (TP). Copper and zinc concentrations were found to be impacted by GSI age, with lower concentrations in older systems. The same trend was not found with PO 4 3− and TP, where almost all GSI systems had soil water concentrations much higher than average stormwater concentrations. Age likely played a role in phosphorus soil water concentrations, but other factors such as sources had a stronger influence. Phosphorus is likely coming from the compost in the soil mix in addition to other sources in runoff. This study shows that GSI systems can be effective for copper and zinc, but changes to the soil mix design are needed to reduce high levels of PO 4 3− and TP in soil water.

Keywords: stormwater; water quality; phosphorus; copper; zinc (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/18/10484/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/18/10484/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:18:p:10484-:d:640081

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().