Understanding nutrient build-up on urban road surfaces

作者：Miguntanna Nandika Prasadani; Goonetilleke Ashantha^*; Egodowatta Prasanna; Kokot Serge

来源：Journal of Environmental Sciences, 2010, 22(6): 806-812.

DOI：10.1016/S1001-0742(09)60181-9

• nutrient pollution
• pollutant build-up
• stormwater pollution

This article discusses the outcomes of a research project on nutrients build-up on urban road surfaces. Nutrient build-up was investigated on road sites belonging to residential, industrial and commercial land use. Collected build-up samples were separated into five particle size ranges and were tested for total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and sub species of nutrients, namely, NO2-, NO3-, TKN and PO43-. Multivariate analytical techniques were used to analyse the data and to develop detailed understanding on buildup. Data analysis revealed that the solids loads on urban road surfaces are highly influenced by factors such as land use, antecedent dry period and traffic volume. However, the nutrient build-up process was found to be independent of the type of land use. It was solely dependent on the particle size of solids build-up. Most of the nutrients were associated with the particle size range <150 mu m. Therefore, the removal of particles below 150 mu m from road surfaces is of importance for the removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from road surface solids build-up. It is also important to consider the difference in the composition of nitrogen and phosphorus build-up in the context of designing effective stormwater quality mitigation strategies.

• 出版日期2010