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Urban water quality and chemical pollution
Published in Thomas Bolognesi, Francisco Silva Pinto, Megan Farrelly, Routledge Handbook of Urban Water Governance, 2023
Serge Stoll, Stéphan Ramseier Gentile
Finally, urban runoff and, in particular, urban stormwater runoff represent a significant source of urban water pollution, and the large-scale, global impacts due to climate variability and change could increase these risks. Runoff usually consists of a heterogeneous mixture of anthropogenic suspended particles, debris, and chemical pollutants, such as metals, pesticides, microplastics, and nanomaterials that are washed form the urban landscape and particularly roads during rainfall. Road traffic is regarded as an important source of pollution. For example, due to vehicle road abrasion and tires and road paint abrasion, a large amount of microplastics and hydrophobic substances are produced, contaminating runoff with hazardous components, including heavy metals coming from automobile brake pads and catalytic converters.
Urban Sources of Micropollutants: from the Catchment to the Lake
Published in Nathalie Chèvre, Andrew Barry, Florence Bonvin, Neil Graham, Jean-Luc Loizeau, Hans-Rudolf Pfeifer, Luca Rossi, Torsten Vennemann, Micropollutants in Large Lakes, 2018
Jonas Margot, Luca Rossi, D. A. Barry
As mentioned in Section 3.1, part of the load of micropollutants released into the environment comes from surface runoff during rain events. Urban runoff waters are potentially contaminated by a large range of pollutants, leaching from atmospheric depositions (coming from transport, oil and wood heating, industrial activity, solid waste incineration), car and train/ trolley traffic (exhaust fumes, fuel additives, oil leakages, tires and breaks wear, catenary wear, chassis corrosion, catalyst wear, car accidents), urban materials (metal corrosion, asphalt and concrete wear, wood treatments, materiel protection with biocides and paints, additives, flame retardants), solid waste storage (landfills, garbage cans), maintenance of parks, gardens, roads, buildings and cars (with pesticides, detergents, fertilizers, paints), littering, animal excrement, etc.
Urban water cycle hydrologic components
Published in Jiri Marsalek, Blanca Jiménez-Cisneros, Mohammad Karamouz, Per-Arne Malmquist, Joel Goldenfum, Bernard Chocat, Urban Water Cycle Processes and Interactions, 2014
Jiri Marsalek, Blanca Jiménez-Cisneros, Mohammad Karamouz, Per-Arne Malmquist, Joel Goldenfum, Bernard Chocat
Interception is defined as that part of water input that wets, and adheres to, aboveground objects (e.g. tree canopy) until it evaporates and returns to the atmosphere (Viessman et al., 1989). Water abstractions by interception are particularly important in vegetated (forested) catchments, where the amount intercepted depends on the species, age and density of the vegetation, storm event characteristics and the season of the year (Geiger et al., 1987). Interception abstractions occur early during rainstorms and quickly diminish. In urban areas with little tree cover, interception is insignificant and often neglected. Although there are formulae for calculating interception as a function of rainfall and vegetation characteristics (Chow, 1964), the estimated interception is often included in the initial abstraction and deducted from the storm rainfall (Geiger et al., 1987). Traditional urban development, with high imperviousness and little vegetation or tree cover, reduces interception and its importance in urban runoff analysis.
Urban runoff quality and quantity control: a functional comparison of various types of detention basins
Published in Urban Water Journal, 2022
Kelly Proteau, Negin Binesh, Sophie Duchesne, Geneviève Pelletier, Isabelle Lavoie
Managing the quantity and quality of stormwater before discharge into receiving waterbodies or inundation of downstream areas can reduce the potential for costly repairs and the serious consequences arising from uncontrolled urban runoff (Leber 2015; O’Neill and Cairns 2016). Use of Best Management Practices (BMPs) is an effective control solution, with the construction of storage ponds (i.e. basins) at the watershed outlet being one of the most common methods (Karamouz et al. 2010; MDDEFP and MAMROT 2011; Noor et al. 2017; Binesh et al. 2019). Two variations often used for flood control and stormwater treatment are dry and wet basins, each appearing similar in design yet different in purpose. Dry basins, also known as detention basins, are designed to release captured runoff over time and remain dry between storms. Their primary function is to delay the runoff discharge into watercourses and downstream areas through an outlet located at the bottom of the basin. As a secondary function, dry basins may also provide some limited water quality benefits. Wet basins (retention ponds or wet detention basins) have an outlet structure located at a higher level and, therefore, retain a permanent pool of water. This allows for additional biological interactions and treatment of contaminants, the main process of the latter being the removal of pollutants through sedimentation, although other physicochemical and biological processes operate in parallel.
Implementation and application of an urban pollutant load modelling tool within an ecosystem services assessment modelling framework to assess water purification capabilities of blue-green infrastructure under climate change
Published in Urban Water Journal, 2022
Thuy Thi Nguyen, Markus Pahlow, Rubianca Benavidez, Frances J. Charters, Bethanna Jackson
Increasing impervious surfaces and human-made drainage networks as a result of expansion and densification of urban space has dramatically changed hydrological characteristics of urban runoff from surfaces (Dams et al. 2013; Fox et al. 2012). As global populations and the urban proportion of this population continues to grow, our present and historical reliance on hard infrastructure poses a significant threat to natural dynamics, resource availability and environmental quality, particularly under the stress of climate change (Niemczynowicz 1999; Vörösmarty et al. 2010). There is an urgent need to mitigate the risk of degradation to water bodies, their in-stream habitats, and the ecosystem services (ES) they provide (Fletcher, Andrieu, and Hamel 2013; O’Driscoll et al. 2010). It is increasingly recognised that blue-green infrastructure (BGI) needs to be woven into strategies to tackle these challenges in urban environments, as such infrastructure delivers crucial ecosystem services, for example through increasing soil water-holding capacity, water purification and groundwater recharge (Barbosa, Fernandes, and David 2012; Burns et al. 2012; Grizzetti et al. 2016; Roy et al. 2008; Walsh et al. 2016).
The mismatch between long-term monitoring data and modelling of solids wash-off to gully pots
Published in Urban Water Journal, 2022
Matthijs Rietveld, Francois Clemens, Jeroen Langeveld
Urban runoff is usually discharged from urban-built environments via drainage systems. Runoff contains solids and associated pollutants (see e.g. Sartor and Boyd 1972; Fulcher 1994; Herngren 2005), which could negatively affect the environment when discharged from the drainage system. The concentration of solids can be monitored or modelled to evaluate whether the environmental regulations are met or whether additional measures have to be taken to reduce the environmental impact of discharges from drainage systems (e.g. Athayde et al. 1983; Fletcher, Andrieu, and Hamel 2013; Cai et al. 2014; Alam et al. 2018; Todeschini, Papiri, and Ciaponi 2018). Moreover, the solids can settle in the drainage pipes (e.g. Crabtree 1989; Ashley et al. 1992; Van Bijnen et al. 2018), and consequently reduce maintain the hydraulic capacity of the drainage pipes. Gully pots can be regarded as a measure to reduce the solids loading to downstream urban drainage systems, while they are designed both to convey runoff from (paved) urban surfaces to the drainage system and to retain suspended solids.