Water Quality

CIVE1153 Stormwater Management

26 April 2016
Water Quality

Stormwater Management Lectures

Week Starting
25 April: Water Quality Lecture & Water Sensitive Urban
Design
MUSIC Part 1 Tutorial
2 May: Water Sensitive Urban Design Lecture
MUSIC Part 2 Tutorial incl. stormwater harvesting
9 May: Pollutant Reduction Techniques Lecture
MUSIC Part 3 Tutorial
16 May: Design of Treatments Lecture & Overview
Design of Treatments Tutorial
Water Quality

Outline
• Background -Stormwater Management
• Impacts of Urban Development
• Stormwater Pollutants
• Sources of Pollutants
• Transportation of Pollution
 Water Quality

Lack of mandatory Water

1950’s service standards Sensitive
and infrastructure Cities
planning
Total water 2000’
cycle s
management-
1960’s integrated
water resource
management
Engineering
solutions to
Water
historical
sensitive
problems
1970’s subdivisions

Treating
Drainage and stormwater
1990’s
flood protection to improve
standards water quality
introduced
Soft
engineering
solutions
Why is Water Quality Important?

• Urban development in a catchment can lead to significant

changes in the urban water cycle
• Increased urbanisation leads to increased stormwater run-off
• Increased urbanisation leads to increased pollutant wash-off
• These increases can be detrimental to receiving waterways
• Increasing industry pressure to address water quality, due to
environmental effects and a greater awareness that water is
actually a scarce resource
• Legislation incorporating water quality objectives for urban
development and redevelopment
Impact of Urban Development

• Water pollution – pollutants wash off into the stormwater system

• Deposition of litter
• Increased suspended solid concentrations
• Increased turbidity
• Deposition of suspended material
• Increased concentrations of nutrients
• Oxygen demanding materials
• Micro-organism and toxic materials
Deposition of suspended
material and gross pollutants
can smother aquatic habitats.
Stormwater contaminants
can deplete dissolved oxygen
and increase toxicity levels,
causing degradation of
ecological health of receiving
waters.
Impact of Urban Development

• Increased surface runoff – volume of runoff is much higher due to

increased amounts of impervious areas
• Leads to changes in stream morphology which degrades the
aquatic habitats
• Changes to the stream environment
• Increased temperatures
• Air pollution – gases and fine particles suspended in the air can be
washed out by rainfall, causing acid rain
Impact of Urban Development

• Soil pollution – contaminants can be leached into groundwater, which

can in turn find their way into receiving waters
• Health risks – sometimes there can be a cross contamination between
our pipe infrastructure, ie. A connection of the sewerage to the
stormwater system, a connection of recycled water to the potable water
system etc
• Social impact – urban development changes the way people live and
further removes them from nature and the importance of the natural
environment
• Visual impact – plastics, paper, other litter in city areas and waterways
are unsightly
 Healesville

Ringwood Warrandyte

Kew

Declining ecological condition

Highly degraded
macroinvertebrate condition
downstream of Kew
Significant decline in
macroinvertebrate
condition after Mullum-
Mullum creek
Declining water quality High quality macroinvertebrate composition
Declining river health High quality riparian and flood plain condition

Increasing to 6% Increasing to 3% catchment imperviousness <3%catchment imperviousness

>6% catchment catchment imperviousness
imperviousness

Increasing catchment imperviousness

Changed Flow Regimes
2004
Best Practice Urban Stormwater Management

Best practice urban stormwater management aims to meet multiple

objectives including:
• Providing flood protection and drainage
• Protecting the downstream aquatic ecosystems
• Removing contaminants
• Promoting stormwater elements as part of the urban form
Stormwater Pollution

There are 2 sources of pollution in stormwater

• Point sources – polluted water is discharged at a single location,
eg. A factory or sewage treatment plant
• Non-point sources – polluted water is generated from a large
area and flows into the drainage system at more than one point
Common Pollutants in Stormwater

“Stormwater pollution comprises fine particles and dissolved

materials (micro-pollutants), and litter and vegetation (gross
pollutants). A pollutant is a material present in a
concentration greater than that which naturally occurs in the
water, air or soil.”
Chiew et al (1997)
Key Urban Contaminants

• Suspended Solids (SS)

• Nutrients
Most significant
• Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) ecological impacts
• Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)
• Micro-organisms

• Oils and surfactants Aesthetic and

• Litter ecological impacts
 Break
See you in 10 minutes
Suspended Solids

• The term is used to describe sediments that are suspended in

water.
• Suspended solids often have other pollutants attached to them.
• Turbidity is often related to suspended solids
• Sediments are often associated with construction activity
• Suspended solid concentrations in urban runoff are typically
140mg/l
Nutrients

• Mainly phosphorous (P) and nitrogen (N)

• They are essential to living organisms, but excessive levels can
upset the balance of a waterway ecosystem
• These can be dissolved or attached to sediment particles
• Dissolved phosphorous is mainly in the form of phosphate (PO4)
• Dissolved nitrogen is mainly in the forms of ammonia (NH3 and
NH4) and oxidised nitrogen (NO2 and NO3)
• The particulate form of nitrogen is mainly organic
• Nitrogen is a critical pollutant for Port Phillip Bay
Nutrients

• Mainly generated from sewer overflows, industrial discharges,

animal waste, fertilisers, detergents and septic tank seepages.
• Rainfall is also a significant contributor of nitrogen
• Nutrient concentrations in urban stormwater are often slightly
lower than agricultural areas, however the concentrations in
urban stormwater are still 2 – 5 times the levels in undisturbed
areas
• Total Phosphorous urban concentration is approx 0.32mg/L
• Total Nitrogen urban concentration is approx 2.6mg/L
Nutrients

• In the process of eutrophication,

excess nutrients promote the growth
of blue-green algae and the exclusion
of others.
The thick mats of algae formed at the
water surface reduce light
penetration and oxygen exchange
between the water and the
atmosphere.
Eutrophication can choke waterways,
making them unsuitable for other life
forms or for recreational and water-
supply use.
Blue-green algae blooms are also
toxic to animals and humans.
Oxygen Demanding Materials

• Biodegradable organic debris, eg. decomposing food and garden

wastes and organic material in sewage, contribute to oxygen
depletion in stormwater
• COD and BOD are measures of the oxygen used when these
materials react with chemicals and biological substances in the
water.
• COD and BOD levels in urban stormwater are 2 – 5 times higher
than the levels in streams in agricultural or forested catchments
• BOD urban runoff loading is 11mg/L
• Low levels of oxygen can kill aquatic life and encourage anaerobic
micro-organism growth
• Nutrients and metals attached to sediments are released at an
increased rate under such conditions
Metals

• Lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd)
and Nickle (Ni) are the main heavy metals associated with
stormwater runoff
• Generated from vehicles (emissions and wear of components eg.
tyres), road and pavement degradation, and water pipe and roof
corrosion
• Amount of heavy metals in urban catchments are much than in
rural areas
• Heavy metals are toxic to animals, birds and humans
Other Pollutants

• Toxic organic wastes – herbicides and pesticides, industrial

chemicals and landfill waste leachates – cause long-term toxicity
• Pathogenic micro-organisms – bacteria, viruses and protozoa
found in soil, decaying vegetation and faecal matter. Escherichia
coli bacterium is a widely used indicator of the faecal pollution
levels in stormwater. Biggest impact of pathogenic micro-
organisms is on human health.
• Hydrocarbons – come from oil and grease used for combustion,
lubrication and protective coatings, and from detergents. Can
cause short-term toxicity problems and damage biological
membranes of aquatic plants and animals
• Litter – is aesthetically unpleasant, smells and attracts vermin.
Can pose health risks (eg. broken glass, disregarded syringes) or
strangle aquatic animals including birds. Litter and plant refuse
are commonly termed gross pollutants (GP) due to their large
unit size.
Sources of Pollution

Distributed Sources
• Atmospheric deposition
• Ash and smoke from bush fires
• Sea spray
• Swamp gases
• Wind blown pollen, insects and micro-organisms
• Dust from agricultural activities and roads
• Dust, ash and emissions from industry
• Agricultural herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers
Sources of Pollution

Local Sources
• Leaf-litter, grass clippings and other vegetation
• Domestic animal faeces
• Herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers
• Sewer overflows
• Illegal sewer connections to stormwater drainage
• Septic tank leakage
• Leakage and spillage of materials from vehicles, storage tanks
and bins
• Seepage from land-fill waste disposal sites
Sources of Pollution

Local Sources (cont)

• Waste-water from cleaning operations (eg. Carwash)
• Corrosion of roofing and other metallic materials
• Industrial emissions
• Vehicle emissions
• Wear of vehicle components such as tyres and brakes
• Wear of road surfaces
• Erosion from construction activity and vegetation removal
• Litter
Pollutant Transportation

Two phases – Build-up and Wash-off

Build-up can happen through

• Dry deposition
• Accumulation of fine particles and gross pollutants from local
sources
• Redistribution of surface pollutants by wind and traffic
Pollutant Transportation

• Wash-off is the removal of accumulated pollutants by rainfall and

runoff.
• Wet deposition is the addition of pollutants to the load from those
washed out from the atmosphere
• Pollutant concentration often peaks before the peak in
stormwater runoff – a process known as the ‘first flush’
• More frequent rainfall events generate the most significant
contaminant loads in urban catchments
• 70 – 90% of the contaminants are exported by storm events of
up to the 1 year ARI event
Pollutant Transportation - Pollutographs
Tutorial for this lecture...

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Download trial version under the products section, then the
Urban Models or Water Quality Models
Water Quality

Recap
• Management of stormwater is always evolving
• Urban development causes significant changes to our
waterways through changes in flows and pollutant loadings
• Stormwater carries a number of pollutants including
nitrogen, phosphorus, suspended solids, litter and metals.
• Pollution can come from a range of point and diffuse
sources
• Transportation of pollutants to receiving waterways
generally occurs following rainfall
Next Lecture: Water Sensitive Urban Design
CIVE1153 Stormwater Management