Field Performance of Bioretention Systems for Runoff Quantity Regulation and Pollutant Removal

Abstract

Bioretention systems are of immense importance as they serve as small “sponges” for cities, cutting stormwater runoff, removing pollution, and using precipitation resources. However, performance data for these facilities are generally lacking, particularly at the field scale. This study investigated the runoff quantity regulation and pollutant removal performance of bioswale and rain garden systems from 2014 to 2017. A performance assessment of these facilities demonstrated that anti-seepage rain garden, bioswale-A, and bioswale-B effectively retained inflow volumes by the filter media, reducing runoff volumes by 54.08, 98.25, and 77.65%, respectively, on average, with only two events of overflowing. According to the water quality data in 24 rainfall events, the main pollutant indexes for the new city include total nitrogen and chemical oxygen demand, and the median values for their respective effluent event median concentrations were 1.29 and 40.13 mg/L for anti-seepage rain garden and 1.68 and 74.00 mg/L for bioswale-B systems. The mean values of pollutant removal of the three bioretention systems, except for infiltration rain garden, were 39.8–59.73% (median = 54.32%), 61.06–72.66% (median = 73.47%), and 76.67%–88.16% (median = 80.64%). Meanwhile, outflow volume of water was found to be most influenced by inflow volumes for the bioswales and anti-seepage rain garden. Mass removals were higher than concentrations owing to water volume attenuation. Based on the data of monitored pollution loads, this study estimated the annual pollutant load removal as 75.45 and 90.7% for anti-seepage rain garden and bioswale-B according to the percent of monitoring rainfall depth in total annual precipitation. This study also established the target pollutant service life model on the basis of accumulated annual load and media adsorption capacity. The results of this study will contribute to a greater understanding of the treatment performance of bioretention systems, assisting in the design, operation, and maintenance of them.