Managing WWeett Weather

with Green Infrastructure

Hartford, CT
July 9, 2009

James Houle, CPSWQ, Robert Roseen, P E,, PhD, Thomas Ballestero,

PE
P
PEE,, PhD, P
PHH,, CGWP, PG, Alis
Ali on
so n Watts, PhD, T
Tiim
m Puls
Environmental Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering
University of New
New Hampshire

Gregg Hall ● 35 Colovos Road ● Durham, New Hampshire 03824-3534

603.862.4024 ● http://www.unhsc.unh.edu

Dedicated to the protection of water resources through

effective stormwater management

• Research and development of stormwater treatment systems

• To provide resources to stormwater communities currently involved in design

and implementation of Phase II requirements
Important Contributions:
•C
Coold
ld climate evaluations
•Parallel-n
noorrm
ma lize
aliz d testing
ed
•Third-p
paarrttyy evaluation

Field Facility at tth

hee
UNH
UN H WEST EDGE L OT
LO T
Tc ~ 19 minutes UNHSC
RESEARCH
FACILITY
Watershed
Boundary

TREE

FILTER

POROUS
ASPHALT

Performance
Evaluation
 Isolator Row Subsurface Infiltration
Hydrodynamic Separator Filter Unit

Porous Asphalt Pervious Concrete

Retention Pond Stone Swale Veg Swale

Gravel Wetland Sand Filter Bioretention Unit Tree Filter

Current Research
Research

� Resear
Researc chh1 sshhoowwss that most SW TX fail
2
2//3
3 of tth
hee time ffoorr some WQ constituents
� There
Ther e is a lack of data examining stormwater
devices ffo orr treatment performance
� There
Ther eaarree a large number of devices in
existence that a arre
e little used that mayy be
ma
superior
1
Ballestero
Ballestero T.P., S.H. Jones, N.E. Kinner (2004), “W aterr Quality Assessment of Storm Water Control Systems”, Final
Wate
Report, Submitted to tth
he
e NOAA-UUNNHH Cooperative Institute ffo
orr Coastal a
annd
d Estuarine Environmental
Technology (CICEET)
 Watershed Impacts:
Major Stormwater Contaminants

� Sediment
� Pathogens
� Nutrients
� Toxic Contaminants
� Debris and Floating Litter
� Temperature Alterations
� Chloride

Impacts of Imperviousness
 Economic Impacts to
Water Resources

1. Stormwater makes up roughly 80% of the wet

weather bacteria load in the harbor.
2. Shellfishing beds and recreational beaches
commonly closed after >1/4 inch of rainfall in 24
hours
3. Loss of revenue due to impacts to tourism and
natural resources
4. Expenses from stress to municipal infrastructure

H
Hoowwa arre
e municipalities dealing with
tth
hee increasing runoff volumes
volumes

� N
NBBC
C RI h as
ha s begun
construction of ssiix
x
miles of underground
storage tunnels at a
projected cost of $467
million (1992 dollars).

� T unnels
Tunnel s will store tth
hee
sewage overflows
during intense rain
events ffo
orr later
treatment

12
New
New York City chose L
LIID
D ordinances
ordinances

NYC
NY C needs to eliminate 4 60
46 0C
CSSOO discharge points by
2030. They chose to disconnect impervious areas
from tth
he
e sewer system a annd
d treat tth
hee runoff through
infiltration practices.

Source: http://www.riverkeeper.org/special/Sustainable_Raindrops_FINAL_2008-01-08.pdf 13

Philadelphia chose L
LIID
D ordinance
ordinance

� C ostt ffo
Cos orr building
additional in-llin inee
storage ffo orr tth
hee
sewers systems =
$4.5/gallon of
storage, no treatment
(Montalto et al,. 2007)

� A lternative
Alternativ eL LIID
D cost
between $4 a annd
d $6
dollars p
peerr gallon
(capital cost p peerr
storage/treatment
capacity) www.phila.gov/OHCD/government.htm

14
H
Haas
s tth
he
e Stormwater Management Community
Practically Considered Climate Change?
� Recent research examining
impacts of climate change on
rainfall depths showed a 28-60%
increase in Q25-Q100
� Existing urban infrastructure
primarily culverts will be under-
capacity by 35%
� This in addition to stressed
stormwater infrastructure from
land use change (Guo, 2006)

Design standards a arre

e static � o urr infrastructure
ou
is obsolete from tth
hee first day
da y after construction

Source: Stack et al.(2008)

16
 Adapting Regulations

Type Old Regs New Regs

Most Sites
Effective BMPs targeting
Large Sensitive Sites - TSS, NO3, TP
80% TSS (or sliding scale) Sensitive Sites
Meet TMDL or Anti­
Water
degredation
Quality
Most Sites
Infiltration and volume
All Sites Peak reduction
Flow Match 2,10, 25-year Large Sites
storms Volume Reduction and
Water Peak Flow Match 2,10, 25­
Quantity year storms

The Primary Cause of WQ Degradation is

Altered Hydrology
Can be Corrected By LID design:
� Storm volume reduction through
infiltration thereby replacing lost hydrologic functions from
impervious surfaces by reducing hydrologic footprint
� Water quality treatment by filtration of
stormwater through engineered soil media which replaces the
lost treatment benefits of natural soils.
“Best” Management Practices

READY… FIRE… AIM…

The Cycle of Job Security

Require Something New Design

Repeat

Construct
The Cycle of Best Management

Require

Improve Design

Repeat

Measure Construct

Capital savings ranged

from 15-80%
 A Closer Look

A Closer Look
� The study assumed that conventional
stormwater management practices would
be replaced entirely by LID techniques,
with no advanced water quality treatment
criteria.
� The proposed LID design reduced
effective impervious area from 30% to 7%
 Another Case Study
Study

Greenland, NH
NH

Rooftops with Subsurface Infiltration

Gravel Wetland

Standard Pavement with Subsurface Infiltration

� On an impaired water necessitating
advanced stormwater treatment Porous Asphalt-~4 ac.
�D ecreased
Decrease dEEIIC
C by 8
855%
%
�R educed
Reduce d overall capital costs by $800,000
28 ac site, initially >95% impervious, now <10%EIC, with all drainage through filtration, expected to have minimal
WQ impact except thermal and chloride
Performance Results

BMP Removal Efficiencies

BMP
BM P Removal Efficiencies
Efficiencies

BMP
BM P Removal Efficiencies
Efficiencies

 Cold Climate Issues

Seasonal Variations in Performance

Gravel Vegetated Swale

100% 100%
90% 90%
80% 80%
70% 70%
60% Summer 60% Summer
50% Winter 50% Winter
40% Annual 40% Annual
30% 30%
20% 20%
10% 10%
0% 0%
-
TSS TPH-D DIN Zn TP
The effect of T and [Cl-] is to
nearly double the settling time
Bioretention II from 3.4 to 1.6 cm/sec
100% 100%
90% 90%
80% 80%
70% 70%
60% Summer 60% Summer
50% Winter 50% Winter
40% Annual 40% Annual
30% 30%
20% 20%
10% 10%
0% 0%
TSS TPH-D DIN Zn TP TSS TPH-D DIN Zn TP
 Frost Penetration

� Can be related to pavement failure

� Measured with a ‘field-assembled’

frost gauge (Ricard et al., 1976)

� Show relationships between

pavements and soils

33

Filtration Systems Frost Penetration

1/13/05 1/25/05 2/4/05 2/16/05 2/25/05 3/8/05 3/15/05 3/28/05
0 30

5 20
Frost Depth (cm)

10 10
Temp (C)

15 0

20 -10

25 -20

30 -30
Sand filter Bioretention I Gravel Wetland
Rain Freezing Ave. Temp ©

34
 Chloride

� There are now 3 chloride

TMDLs in the NH alone!
� Chloride is toxic to aquatic life

� No BMP targets removal

Chloride Levels in First Order

Receiving Stream (Durham, NH)

Acute

Chronic
Where should reductions occur?
Sources of Salt Loading
From Vehicular Surface Deicing
(Rockingham County, NH)
(NHDES 2007)

27%
3%

Parking Lots

Private Roads 9%

Municipal Roads

State Roads 11%

50%
Other

Salt Reduction and Porous Asphalt

DMA 1-HR AFTER PLOWING,

11AM -4*C

PA 1-HR AFTER PLOWING,

11 AM -4*C
Conditions after thawing and refreezing of melt-water (3/18/07)(a) PA at 9AM (left); (b) DMA at 9AM (rt)

Conditions after thawing and refreezing of melt-water (2/16/08) (a) PC at 1PM (left); (b) DMA at 1PM (rt)

39

Comparison of snow/ice percent cover for Porous Asphalt study

area (winter 06 07)

• More snow & ice present on DMA

Weighted skid resistance values as a function of surface cover for all
pavement types ( 06 07)

� Weighted SR as a measure of safety

� Higher BPN = safer pavement

Maintenance
 Long­Term Maintenance

� All advanced stormwater systems require

maintenance
� LID maintenance often simple, low cost
� Homeowner/landscaper education
� Consider requiring permanent sureties
� Often Maintenance only occurs when there is failure
� There is a perception that LID systems require more
maintenance

What is Maintenance
�Often Maintenance
only occurs when there
is failure
�There is a perception
that LID systems
require more
maintenance
�Some claim LID
systems fail and will
require expensive
repairs
 Pond: 3-year Break Down TSS

200

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

180

160

140

TSS EMC (mg/L)

120

100

80

60

40

20

n
t

t
en

en

en
tio

tio

tio
flu

flu

flu
en

en

en
In

In

In
et

et

et
R

Just what
exactly is your
point?
 100% Removal???

There a arre
e no silver bullets
�D esignss should be based on
Design
regional watershed a nd
an d water
quality objectives. (think locally
actt locally!)
ac
� We a arre
e moving beyond 8 800%
%T SS
TS S
removal:
� Nutrients, PSD, effluent
concentrations

Annual Reports
Outreach Materials
Materials
Fact Sheets
Web Resources

http://www.unh.edu/erg/cstev

or just google UNHSC

Journal Articles Design Drawings
Design
Specifications
 Funding
Funding is provided by the Cooperative Institute for
Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology
(CICEET) whose mission is to support the
scientific development of innovative technologies
for understanding and reversing the impacts of
coastal and estuarine contamination and
degradation.