Abstract
Water quality is a key consideration for urban stormwater harvesting via aquifers. This study assessed catchment spill management options based on a calibrated dynamic wave routing model of stormwater flow in an urban catchment. The study used measured travel times, pluviometer and gauging station observations from 21 storms to calibrate a stormwater model to simulate transport of pollutants from spill locations to the point of harvest. The simulations considered the impact of spill locations, spill durations, storm intensities and storm durations on the pollutant concentration at the point of harvest and travel time of a pollutant spill to the harvesting point. During dry weather, spill events travelled slower than spills occurring during wet weather. For wet weather spills, the shortest travel times tended to occur in higher intensity storms with shorter duration, particularly when a spill occurred in the middle of the storm. Increasing the intensity of rainfall reduced the peak concentration of pollutant at the harvest point via dilution, but it also reduced the time of travel. On a practical level, due to the short response times in urban catchments, management of spills should be supported by automated detection/diversion systems to protect stormwater harvesting schemes.
Highlights
Water quality is an important consideration in the harvesting and reuse of stormwater for higher end uses such as drinking
Urban stormwater harvesting schemes have adopted a variety of treatment mechanisms to improve water quality including constructed wetlands [6] and biofiltration systems [7,8,9]
The Parafield stormwater harvesting, and Managed AquiferRecharge (MAR) scheme is operated by the City of Salisbury, a local government in South Australia, Australia
Summary
Water quality is an important consideration in the harvesting and reuse of stormwater for higher end uses such as drinking. Urban stormwater is potentially affected by both point and diffuse sources of pollution which vary depending on several factors, land use [1,2,3]. Many of these systems have been integrated with Managed Aquifer. Recharge (MAR) schemes for inter-seasonal storage [4,5] For this reason, urban stormwater harvesting schemes have adopted a variety of treatment mechanisms to improve water quality including constructed wetlands [6] and biofiltration systems [7,8,9]. These hazardous events include accidents such as tanker spills (chemical hazards) and sewer overflows (microbial hazards) which can lead to a highly concentrated point-source of pollutants entering the harvesting system
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call