The Effect of Different Artificial Soil on Urban Non-Point Source Pollution Reduction in the Artificial Rapid Infiltration System

Junfeng Wu,Jingyang Luo,Zhaoxia Xue,Qian Feng,Langrun Song

doi:10.4236/gep.2018.611005

Abstract

The non-point source pollution posed great risks to the urban water environment which has aroused great concerns. Artificial rapid infiltration systems have been widely used in sewage treatment, which have great environmental and economic values. This study investigated the potential of utilizing artificial rapid infiltration systems on the reduction of urban non-point source pollution. The obtained results showed that the components and composition of artificial soils were vital to the operational performance. The mixture of natural soil, coarse sand and zeolite was ideal for the construction of artificial soils. The permeability coefficient of soils could be improved to 0.166 cm/min at the optimized ratio of 1:1:0.05 (natural soil, coarse sand and zeolite). Also, high removal efficiency for the typical pollutants in rain runoffs (i.e. COD, NH4+-N, TN and TP) could be simultaneous obtained which was above 74% in the artificial rapid infiltration systems. The results demonstrated the effectiveness on the reduction of urban non-point pollution by optimized artificial rapid infiltration system.

Highlights

This study investigated the potential of utilizing artificial rapid infiltration systems on the reduction of urban non-point source pollution
The permeability coefficient of natural soils in Suzhou was only 2.17 × 10−4 cm/min which was far below the required limits and it was suitable for the construction of rapid infiltration system directly
The permeability coefficient was remarkably increased due to the addition of coarse sand and zeolite and it was highly correlated with the mixing ratio

Summary

Introduction

The contaminants are mainly consisted of organics, eutrophication substances (nitrogen and phosphorus) and suspended solids (Li et al, 2017; Zhuang et al, 2015; Huang et al, 2010) They would enter into surface water and groundwater from atmosphere, grounds and soils through leaching and scouring and cause serious water environment pollution (Qin et al, 2016). In Beijing, the concentrations of suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, total phosphorus and total nitrogen were respectively 3.9, 13.6, 3.3 and 16-folds higher than that of the V class of Environmental Quality Standard for Surface Water. The urban non-point source pollution is characteristic of high intensity and wide space-time variation which make its effective control quite difficult (Qin et al, 2016; Huang & Xiang, 2014; Coppola et al, 2014)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion