Treatment of Contaminated Roadway Runoff Using Vegetated Filter Strips, Summary

摘要

Heavily traveled multi-lane divided highways yield stormwater runoff containing hydrocarbons, suspended solids, and heavy metals. These pollutants may impact local water bodies if runoff control measures are not implemented. Best management practices (BMPs) have been suggested for treating runoff from highways; perhaps the most feasible BMP is the use of vegetated filter strips (VFSs). Existing highway embankments and medians are often well suited for use as filter strips. Although vegetated filter strips have been suggested as a stormwater runoff best management practice (BMP), individual storm-event pollutant removal performance has been highly variable in previous documented studies. Few field studies have assessed the long-term pollutant retention capabilities of vegetated buffers that are integrated with highway design and construction. The goal of this field study was to evaluate the potential effectiveness of vegetated highway embankments as a stormwater runoff best management practice (BMP) for retention of metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and particulates.