Chapter 17 - System Dynamics Modeling for Nitrogen Removal in a Subtropical Stormwater Wet Pond

Abstract

Abstract Stormwater management was originally intended for flood control and minimal water quality improvement. The systems utilized for on-site treatment, most often stormwater ponds, are now a critical best management practice (BMP) tool for preventing nutrient runoff from urban regions discharging into natural water bodies causing eutrophication. This chapter begins with discussing limitations of traditional stormwater ponds followed by a brief introduction of the FTW as an innovative and additive BMP to avoid copper-based algaecide use and improve the pond nutrient removal. This is supported with a field-scale study in terms of hydrologic record, water quality levels, and sediment nutrient contents. This chapter continues with the development of a system dynamics model associated with FTWs in a stormwater wet pond to entail the coupling, feedback, and cycling embedded in these hydrobiogeochemical processes within. This study eventually leads to a deepened understanding of the nitrogen cycle and ecological phenomena in relation to floating islands for nitrogen removal under current management techniques, which apply copper-based herbicides to control algae blooms resulting from available nutrients. The model was designed to be structurally dynamic to evaluate ecosystem dynamics that compound the biochemical removal mechanisms that may result in the altered nitrogen removal capacity due to copper impact. Simulations were conducted with corresponding scenarios associated with potential use of algaecides for algal bloom control in those stormwater wet ponds.