Contamination of Urban Surface Water by Vehicle Emissions
Project Title
Contamination of Urban Surface Water by Vehicle Emissions
University
Syracuse University
Principal Investigator
Cliff Davidson, Ph.D.
Wilmot Chair Professor of Engineering, Syracuse University
David Chandler, Ph.D.
Professor of Practice at Syracuse University, Syracuse University
Ossama (Sam) Salem, Ph.D.
Yabroudi Chair Professor of Sustainable Civil Infrastructures at Syracuse University, Syracuse University
PI Contact Information
David Chandler, Ph.D.
Funding Sources and Amounts Provided
US Department of Transportation — $80,000
Syracuse University — $80,000
Total Project Cost
$160,000
Agency ID or Contract Number
DTRT12GUTC17; KLK900-SB-004
Start Date
7/1/12
End Date
1/31/16
Description of Research Project
Motor vehicles emit pollutants that deposit on roadways and other urban surfaces, and can subsequently be carried into receiving waters by stormwater runoff. This can be a particularly important problem in communities that suffer from combined sewer overflow events (CSOs). Such events can occur in urban areas where the same sewers are used for conveyance of both domestic wastewater from households and runoff from precipitation. Under dry conditions, there are no problems: the domestic wastewater flows to the sewage treatment plant and is treated before discharge into the receiving waters. But when it rains, the flow of domestic wastewater and stormwater may exceed the capacity of the sewage treatment plant. There may not be a place to store the excess water, which must therefore bypass the sewage treatment plant and be allowed to flow out into the receiving waters untreated. This can cause human health problems and serious ecosystem damage. The problem is exacerbated in cities where much of the land is covered with impervious surfaces such as streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and buildings. Furthermore, the CSO flows contain pollutants emitted from motor vehicles, which result in additional contamination of the receiving waters. This is an important water management issue for Onondaga County and the city of Syracuse, NY.
To reduce CSOs and minimize pollutant flow into Onondaga Lake, the County is investing in green infrastructure (GI). GI technologies such as green roofs, rain gardens, and bioswales are designed to reduce runoff from impervious urban surfaces, which can decrease the number of CSO events. However, the effects of GI on the levels of pollution in the runoff remain unknown. Thus, the objective of this research is to assess the impact of installing green roofs and other GI in Syracuse as a means of reducing the transport of vehicle-related pollutants into Onondaga Lake, and also as a means of reducing the occurrence of CSO events, which deliver pollutants as well as raw sewage to the lake. The research involves experimental studies to measure both wet and dry atmospheric deposition of pollutants emitted from motor vehicles.
Implementation of Research Outcomes
Methods for sampling and analyzing trace metals were developed in Spring 2015. Of particular interest are metals emitted from motor vehicles that reach the Convention Center green roof and the War Memorial control roof. The methods have been applied to initial sampling of a rainstorm in May 2015. The results show that fresh precipitation contains small but measurable amounts of several trace metals; thus far, data are available for Cu, Ni, and Pb. The concentrations of these three metals are much greater in runoff during the same rainstorm from the green roof, however. This suggests that either dry deposition of these trace metals onto the green roof or leaching of these metals from the growth medium on the green roof are increasing the concentrations in precipitation after the rainwater reaches the roof surface. This can affect the amount of these contaminants reaching the sewer system, and hence contaminants entering Onondaga Lake. We expect there will be large variability in trace metal concentrations from storm to storm, as was observed for anions sampled in summer 2014. Thus we cannot draw conclusions until more rainstorms are sampled. Furthermore, we will need data from the control roof in addition to the green roof before conclusions can be reached. Analysis of samples from the control roof collected in May 2015 is underway, as well as analysis of airborne concentration and dry deposition samples from this time period. Additional sampling of fresh precipitation, runoff from both roofs, and airborne concentration and dry deposition is also underway.
Impacts and Benefits of the Project
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Presentations
- Tamargo, Jeremy C., Jeff W. Minnich, and Cliff I. Davidson, Contribution of atmospheric aerosols to urban stormwater runoff, Platform Presentation, Annual Meeting, American Association for Aerosol Research, Portland, OR, September 30-October 4, 2013.
- Squier, Mallory N., Juwairiah B. Ahmad, Joseph P. DiStefano, and Cliff I. Davidson, The OnCenter green roof: A tool for managing urban stormwater, Platform Presentation at the Tenth International Phytotechnologies Conference, Liverpool, NY, October 1-4, 2013.
- Squier, Mallory N. and Cliff I. Davidson, The OnCenter green roof: Water mass balance on a large extensive green roof, Platform Presentation at the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, Annual Symposium, Syracuse, NY, October 21-22, 2013.
- Minnich, Jeffrey W., Khaled Abdel-Rahim, Jeremy C. Tamargo, and Cliff I. Davidson, Contaminant anions in stormwater runoff from an urban street surface in Syracuse, NY, Poster Presentation at the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, Annual Symposium, Syracuse, NY, October 21-22, 2013.
- Johnson, Alex, Cliff I. Davidson, and Mario Montesdeoca, Analysis of trace metals in stormwater runoff from two building roofs, Poster Presentation, AEESP Conference, New Haven, CT, June 13-16, 2015.
- Johnson, Alex and Cliff Davidson, Influence of Urban Aerosols on the Chemistry of Stormwater Runoff from Building Roofs, accepted for oral presentation at the National Meeting of the American Association for Aerosol Research, Minneapolis, MN, October 12-16, 2015.
Web Links
TranLIVE_Report_Conttamination-of-urban-surface-water-by-vehicle-emissions
Keywords
- stormwater
- washoff
- emissions
- deposition
- urban development