Highway Runoff Research Articles

Pollution and Carbon Sequestration of Highway Runoff in Karst Regions: A Case Study from Guangxi, China

Pollution and Carbon Sequestration of Highway Runoff in Karst Regions: A Case Study from Guangxi, China

Are floating treatment wetlands more suitable for retrofitting highway runoff basins than vertical-flow treatment wetlands?

Highway runoffs introduce numerous traffic-related pollutants – such as heavy metals, suspended solids and different kinds of hydrocarbons – into surface waters, thus endangering environmental health. In Germany, sedimentation basins with oil retention baffles are mandatory for the treatment of highway runoff in water protection areas. If the distance to the groundwater table is too low, further treatment with event-loaded vertical-flow treatment wetlands (VFWs) is required. In this study, we evaluated if retrofitting of stormwater retention basins to floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) can serve as an alternative to post-treatment VFWs and if native plant species could adapt to the oxygen-deprived salt-enriched environment. Two such basins with two hydraulically separated parallel chambers each near the municipality of Cologne were equipped with floating mats on one chamber, while the other one served as control. One location additionally had hydraulically separated post-treatment VFWs, allowing for a comparison with the treatment efficiency of the FTW. The removal of chloride, sulfate, suspended solids (total and < 63 μm), nutrients, metals, petroleum derived hydrocarbons and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PDH and PAH) was examined in 54 events over a period of two years. As a result, it was found that plants can create an intense root network despite hostile conditions in the basins. For the target parameters (TSS63, PAH and PDH), the removal efficiency of the stormwater retention basin was already sufficient. For metals and ammonium nitrogen, the VFWs proved to be more efficient, whereas for nitrate nitrogen, this was the case for FTWs. None of the treatment systems proved effective against reducing chloride concentration from deicing salts.

Investigation of contaminant profile in highway stormwater runoff and risk assessment by statistical analysis

Highway stormwater runoff pollution has become a severe risk factor for water bodies nowadays. The conventional risk analysis protocols for directly discharging highway runoff are prone to systematic and judgmental errors. Therefore, a numeric and straightforward risk assessment protocol has been developed in this study that minimizes the errors. For this study, three highway segments were selected in the city of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Event mean concentrations have been used as baseline numeric values for calculating the risk of discharging highway stormwater directly into the water bodies. These values are also correlated with highway characteristics (area, slope, and traffic count) and storm characteristics (storm depth, cumulative runoff volume, antecedent dry days, and cumulative flow). The highway stormwater was monitored for organics, metals, solids, and macro-nutrients at three highway sections. The event mean concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (50–145 mg/L), total suspended solids (1500–3900 mg/L), chromium (0.25–0.45 mg/L), and lead (0.1–0.8 mg/L) are found to be higher than the environmental quality standards. The risk assessment was conducted by the analysis of variance. The analysis showed that the highway characteristics significantly affect contaminant concentrations, but storm characteristics on contaminant concentrations are not found to be significant. Total suspended solids are the most threatening contaminant in highway runoffs. The study concluded that the risk from contaminants in highway stormwater depends particularly on the specific highway sections’ properties. The first flush portion (initial 25% of runoff) of highway runoff poses a higher threat to the receiving environment than the later runoff volumes.

Design of Constructed Wetland Treatment Measures for Highway Runoff in a Water Source Protection Area

Road runoff contains high levels of pollutants, such as heavy metals and hydrocarbons. If they are directly discharged into sensitive water bodies, they will cause irreversible pollution and damage to the water environment. Furthermore, the leakage of hazardous chemicals into sensitive waters will lead to serious consequences, so determining how to deal with road surface runoff has become an urgent problem. This research adopts a scheme for collecting and processing road runoff in a water source protection area using artificial wetlands. After optimizing and improving the general vertical flow of the wetland structure, a composite wetland structure and a relatively novel tandem wetland structure are proposed. An indoor model is established for experiments on various main wetland structure schemes. The results show that the two newly proposed wetland structures improve the possibility of water level control in general vertical flow structures. At the same time, the movement distance of the water flow in the wetland structure is changed to improve the treatment effect of runoff. The removal effect of composite and tandem wetland structures for heavy metals, petroleum substances, and COD (chemical oxygen demand) is significantly better than that of general vertical flow structures. Among them, the composite structure is better than the tandem structure at removing heavy metals, petroleum substances, and COD. However, due to the water discharge method of the structures, the latter has a better effect than the former in the treatment of suspended substances.

Impacts of Highway Runoff on Metal Contamination Including Rare Earth Elements in a Small Urban Watershed: Case Study of Bordeaux Metropole (SW France).

High temporal resolution sampling of runoff (15 samples/4h) and river water (24 samples/24h) was performed during a major rainstorm (41mm/4h) in the Bordeaux Metropole, after a dry and high vehicle-density period. Runoff was sampled at the outlet of one collector draining Northern Bordeaux Highway (NBH; 80,000-93,000 vehicles/day) and river water in the downstream Jalle River. The studied metals, including priority and emergent (Rare Earth Elements [REEs]) contaminants, showed major temporal and spatial variations in the dissolved and particulate concentrations. Hierarchical cluster analyses distinguished metal groups, reflecting different: (i) sources (i.e., automotive traffic: Zn-Cu-Ce and wastewater treatment plant: Cd-Ag-Gd) and/or (ii) processes (i.e., groundwater dilution by rainwater and sorption processes). The contribution of the particulate fraction to total metal fluxes was predominant in the NBH collector (except for Sr and Mo) and highly variable in the Jalle River, where the highest particulate metal loads were due to the export of road dusts exported by the NBH collector. Metal fluxes from the NBH collector represented highly variable fractions of daily fluxes into the Gironde Estuary at the outlet of the Jalle River, depending on elements and partitioning. The resulting relative contributions ranged from: 5% (Sr) to 40% (Cu) for dissolved phases and 30% (As) to 88% (Cu) for particulate phases. The first 40min of the event accounted for 65% of the suspended particulate matter flux (and associated particulate metals) exported by the NBH collector, whereas the respective water flux contribution was 35%. This finding clearly demonstrates the importance of monitoring the first minutes of rainy events when establishing mass balances in urban systems.

Partitioning of Mercury into Several Size Fractions in Highway Runoff

Due to their large impervious coverage, highways are ideal sites for the transport of pollutants to either treatment units or direct discharge to waterways. Mercury, a highly toxic and ubiquitous environmental contaminant, is rarely studied in stormwater runoff. Removal of particulate-bound mercury in a dry detention basin was analyzed for the five size fractions: <0.45 μm, 0.45–8 μm, 8–20 μm, 20–100 μm, and >100 μm. The highest concentration of mercury for both influent and effluent is observed in the 8–20 μm size fraction. Treatment units are often characterized by suspended solids removal efficiency and particle-bound pollutants correlated to suspended solids removal; however, different suspended solids removal efficiency may occur in specific particle size fractions. Therefore, the benefits of treatment units may be different than originally anticipated, especially if the particle-bound concentrations are greater in fractions more efficiently removed. For sedimentation-based treatment units, the removal is dependent on size fraction, and when one size fraction is captured more efficiently, the removal rate calculated using the entire sample might indicate particle-bound pollutant removal quite different than actually occurring.

Monitoring the Water Quality Benefits of a Triangular Swale Treating a Highway Runoff

AbstractSwales are among the most commonly used stormwater control measures (SCMs) worldwide. In 2009, the North Carolina DOT constructed a grassed swale in Knightdale, North Carolina, in the right...

Investigation of the Effect of Highway Runoff along Lagos-Badagry Expressway Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography and Physiochemical Methods

Geophysical and physiochemical investigations were carried out along Lagos-Badagry Expressway, Southwest, Nigeria on three locations dominated by highway runoff, with a view to monitoring the effect of highway runoff on nearby groundwater. The locations were: Iyana Isashi, Iyana Era and Agbara. An overview of the subsurface resistivity distribution was achieved employing Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) using Schlumberger array and Two-dimensional (2D) resistivity imaging (Wenner array). The ABEM Terrameter SAS 1000 was used for both VES and 2D resistivity surveys and the data were analysed using IPI2win and RES2DINV, respectively. The VES results showed up to four geoelectric layers consisting of sand, clayey sand, clay and sandy soils. The resistivity at Agbara was found varying from 3.52 Ωm - 11 Ωm. This low resistivity value showed a high level of infiltration of highway runoff into the subsurface, thereby causing contamination of the groundwater. Iyana Isashi and Iyana Era have a relatively moderate resistivity values ranging from 103 Ωm to 178 Ωm. Physiochemical analysis of groundwater samples collected at the study locations revealed high electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids and pH values. The results of the borehole sample taken at 32 m away from the profile point at Agbara produced higher values of electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids than those of other locations, hence validating the electrical resistivity surveys, indicating that the groundwater sample from the survey point at Agbara is contaminated.

Correction: Sobotkova, M., et al. Assessing the Feasibility of Soil Infiltration Trenches for Highway Runoff Control on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii. Water 2018, 10, 1832

In the published article [1], the authors realized some errors in the affiliation for Martina Sobotkova and Jaromir Dusek, and thus wish to replace the affiliation with the paragraph below [...]

Simulating Runoff Quality with the Highway Runoff Database and the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model

Stormwater practitioners need quantitative information about the quality and volume of highway runoff to assess and mitigate potential adverse effects of runoff on the Nation’s receiving waters. The U.S. Geological Survey developed the Highway Runoff Database (HRDB) in cooperation with the FHWA to provide practice-ready information to meet these information needs on the local or national scale. This paper describes the datasets that are available in version 1.1 of the HRDB and demonstrates how data and statistics from the HRDB can be used with the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM) to simulate highway runoff. The HRDB includes 249 sites, 6,849 runoff events, and 106,869 event mean concentrations (EMCs) collected during the 1975–2017 period. It includes data from 16 States in the conterminous United States and from Hawaii. The EMCs in the HRDB include measurements for 415 different water-quality constituents. These water-quality measurements include 32,944 trace-metal; 27,496 organic; 15,684 nutrient; 13,016 physical property; 10,307 major inorganic; 6,773 sediment; and 649 other constituent values. There are large variations in the data. For example, EMCs for total suspended solids and total phosphorus range from 0.4 to 5,440 mg/L and 0.004 to 22 mg/L, respectively; geometric means range from 1.58 to 1,379 mg/L and 0.017 to 2.82 mg/L for these constituents, respectively. The example simulations indicate that risks for adverse effects of runoff can vary by orders of magnitude; the HRDB and SELDM facilitate selection of representative statistics from available datasets.

Assessing the Feasibility of Soil Infiltration Trenches for Highway Runoff Control on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii

The coastal waters of Hawaii are extremely important for recreation as well as for the health of the marine environment. Non-point source pollution from storm runoff poses a great threat to surface water quality in Hawaii. The State of Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) includes infiltration trenches as a best management practice (BMP) option to reduce pollution caused by stormwater runoff. HDOT guidelines state that the implementation of BMPs is needed to reduce sediment and pollutant loads to streams and the ocean. In this study, the suitability of soils adjacent to highways on Oahu for the siting of infiltration trenches was examined. In addition to field surveys and in-situ tests, laboratory investigations on soil properties, infiltration experiments on undisturbed soil columns, and mathematical modeling of hydraulic functioning of the infiltration trench were conducted. Dissolved metal concentrations in highway stormwater runoff were observed to exceed the groundwater environmental action levels for all heavy metals tested, but the soils had high sorption capacity for these metals. The results of the simulations indicated that all the sampled Oahu soils, with one exception, would require less than two hours to drain a filled hypothetical trench. Therefore, these soils are suitable for construction of infiltration trenches as a possible BMP, even when clogging of soil is considered in the simulation.

Mitigation of Impacts to Groundwater Quality from Highway Runoff in a Karst Terrain

There is a concern that urban development and the construction and operation of highways in particular represent a substantial threat to groundwater quality in areas underlain by karst geology. The objective of this paper is to determine whether common stormwater treatment practices are effective at preventing adverse impacts. The Barton Springs portion of the Edwards Aquifer, a karst system in Central Texas, presents a unique opportunity to address this issue, in that stormwater treatment requirements have been in place over a period of 20 years, when a substantial amount of development, including new highways, has been undertaken. This paper analyzes water quality data from Barton Springs over this period to identify constituents that exhibit changes in concentration and identifies potential causes of these changes. This analysis indicates that the constituents for which water quality has exhibited degradation appear to be due mainly to increases in pumping for water supply and onsite disposal of wastewater. No changes in constituent concentrations were observed for those most closely associated with highway operation, including total suspended solids, heavy metals, pesticides, and bacteria. It was found that sand filters produce an effluent quality equal to or better than runoff from undeveloped land. Consequently, it can be concluded that sand filtration, or an equivalent treatment, is an effective strategy for preventing groundwater degradation from highway operation in karst terrains.

Pilot Scale Testing of Adsorbent Amended Filters under High Hydraulic Loads for Highway Runoff in Cold Climates

This paper presents an estimation of the service life of three filters composed of sand and three alternative adsorbents for stormwater treatment according to Norwegian water quality standards for receiving surface waters. The study conducted pilot scale column tests on three adsorbent amended filters for treatment of highway runoff in cold climates under high hydraulic loads. The objectives were to evaluate the effect of high hydraulic loads and the application of deicing salts on the performance of these filters. From previous theoretical and laboratory analysis granulated activated charcoal, pine bark, and granulated olivine were chosen as alternative adsorbent materials for the present test. Adsorption performance of the filters was evaluated vis-à-vis four commonly found hazardous metals (Cu, Pb, Ni and Zn) in stormwater. The results showed that the filters were able to pass water at high inflow rates while achieving high removal. Among the filters, the filters amended with olivine or pine bark provided the best performance both in short and long-term tests. The addition of NaCl (1 g/L) did not show any adverse impact on the desorption of already adsorbed metals, except for Ni removal by the charcoal amended filter, which was negatively impacted by the salt addition. The service life of the filters was found to be limited by zinc and copper, due to high concentrations observed in local urban runoff, combined with moderate affinity with the adsorbents. It was concluded that both the olivine and the pine bark amended filter should be tested in full-scale conditions.

Real Time Management of Highway Runoff for Water Quality Spill Control, Flow Monitoring and Maintenance Requirements

Real Time Management of Highway Runoff for Water Quality Spill Control, Flow Monitoring and Maintenance Requirements

Highway Runoff In Situ Treatment: Copper and Zinc Removal through MOGFC

AbstractThe primary objective of this study is to develop and evaluate multifunctional open-graded friction course (MOGFC) for use as an in situ treatment technique to remove Cu and Zn from highway runoff. First, the conventional porous pavement, open-graded friction course (OGFC), was prepared with varying air voids. Five different types of adsorbents were selected based on cost, applicability, and availability. Second, MOGFC was prepared by adding different adsorbents into the void of OGFC. A series of laboratory tests were conducted to evaluate the adsorption capacity of the adsorbents and metal removal efficiency of MOGFC. The tests included air void content, permeability, moisture susceptibility of OGFC and MOGFC, batch adsorption study of adsorbents, and metal removal by MOGFC. Results showed that three adsorbents have moderate to high adsorption capacity for copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) removal from its aqueous solution. With these adsorbents, MOGFC could also considerably reduce metal concentration f...

Evaluation of Rubber-Chip Media for Bioretention BMPs Treating Highway Runoff

AbstractStormwater runoff is one of the main contributors to stream impairment in the United States and is primarily treated using best management practices (BMPs). One of the problems with BMPs (e.g., bioretention basins) is that the media used in bioretention basins are not well evaluated, including the optimal composition and physical characteristics. The objective of this research is to evaluate the use of rubber chips as a possible supplemental BMP media because of their light weight and availability. Four types of rubber-chip-mediated soil mixtures were tested, i.e., 100% rubber chips and 50% rubber chips mixed with 50% of either silty loam soil, sand, or compost. Results indicate that a 50/50 mix of rubber chips and sand could treat contaminants in highway runoff efficiently, but lacked the best qualities for plant growth and may require addition of compost. Based on both physical and chemical properties of the media mixture, compost rubber (CR) and silty loam rubber (SLR) were found to be the best...

Highway runoff treatment by hybrid adsorptive media-baffled subsurface flow constructed wetland

In this study, a lab-scale baffled horizontal sub-surface flow constructed wetland (HSSF-CW) with adsorptive media/substrate was constructed and operated for one year to assess its performance for highway runoff (HRO) pollution control. Based on the results of isothermal adsorption experiments, a hybrid of zeolite, expanded vermiculite, vesuvianite was chosen out of five candidate media as the optimal combination in terms of adsorption efficiency. The performance of the constructed wetland (CW) with the predetermined hybrid media was tested under different hydraulic loadings (HLs) with continuous and intermittent flow conditions. The results show that ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) and total phosphorus (TP) adsorption by the media fitted very well with the Langmuir isothermal equation. 2D contour plot analysis is a useful tool, which can give a visible pollutants removal law in CWs and help to understand how such a system works along the horizontal direction. Results from intermittent operation indicate that an average removal efficiency of 86.5%, 68.1%, 78.25%, 95.2% and 64.85% were achieved for total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), NH4+-N and TP, respectively. The performances during continuous flow under different HLs illustrate that HLs have little influence on COD, NH4+-N and TP removal under HLs lower than 0.56m3/m2d, while the removal rates are remarkably decreased at a high HL of 1.12m3/m2d, especially for TP. Moreover, media/substrates adsorption is the main process for NH4+-N and TP removal, while plants uptake plays a limited role. The findings suggest that the baffled adsorptive media HSSF-CW is a promising system for HRO pollution control and shows potential for field application.

Removal of Dissolved Copper and Zinc from Highway Runoff via Adsorption

AbstractDissolved copper and zinc are commonly observed in highway runoff at concentrations that have been shown to exert toxic effects on aquatic microbiota and macrobiota. Dissolved copper in particular has been shown to disrupt the olfactory nervous system of salmon species at concentrations as low as 3 μg/L. To reduce concentrations to below this threshold, treatment of highway runoff for the removal of copper and zinc is necessary. This study developed a column testing protocol that can be used to quickly and reliably evaluate adsorptive removal of dissolved heavy metals from highway runoff. The protocol is demonstrated in an evaluation of iron oxide, manganese oxide, crab shell, concrete, and bone meal media for removing dissolved copper and zinc as a function of runoff characteristics, including pH, ionic strength, alkalinity, and total organic carbon. The results indicate that iron oxide media in combination with crab shell or concrete media is the most effective adsorptive technique for the remo...

Hydrologic Performance of a Transitioned Infiltration Basin Managing Highway Runoff

AbstractInfiltration basins are widely used stormwater control measures (SCMs) for urban stormwater runoff management. However, these SCMs can experience progressive failure to hydrologically perform as originally designed (i.e., primarily infiltration-based runoff control) and the functionality of such failed infiltration basins in managing stormwater runoff is unknown. In this field-scale research study, the hydrologic performance of a failed stormwater infiltration basin was investigated over 3 years. Visual indications of wet pond/wetland like conditions on-site suggested that the infiltration basin had evolved or transitioned to an alternate type of SCM. The transitioned infiltration basin mitigated runoff flows by providing dynamic flow attenuation, total volume and peak flow reductions, and reduced discharge durations. Performance of the transitioned basin can be classified into the following three hydrologic regimes: 100% volume reduction due to complete capture for small storm events; variable vo...

Micropollutants Identification Affecting the Nearby Environment from Highway Runoff: The Case Study of Cyprus Highway

Road/highway surfaces accumulate significant quantities of pollutants including nutrients, heavy metals, and polycyclic hydrocarbon aromatic (PHAs). Traffic characteristics (vehicle speed, traffic load, etc.), climate, long dry wet periods, and rainfall event intensity and duration are regarded as important factors in generating pollutants in high way runoff (HRO). Regarding rainfall control, most of the road is served by drainage ditches which collect the runoff and direct it to the nearest natural water courses. This paper focuses on the estimation of pollutant that is coming from two several highways (to the airport and to the biggest industrial area) in Cyprus. Overall, more than 100 different samples were collected and analysed over a period of two years. Several parameters were determined like PHA, COD, electronic conductivity (EC), total suspended solid (TSS), total dissolved solid (TDS), pH, fats and oils (FOG), T. Coliforms, NO3, NO2, NH4, SO4, Cl, As, Ba, Bi, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Mo, Ni, P, Pb, and Zn. The results indicated that the first flush consists of major pollution due to the fact that all parameters are in high levels. As the rainfall continues the pollution decreases but the influence to the nearby areas of the runoff is high.