Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: A variety of contaminants are found in urban storm water runoff.Research was carried out on several catch basins around Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio with the purpose of identifying areas of high contaminant concentration for future studies.The area has a variety of land uses, ranging from busy roadways to parking decks to maintained lawns.Different pollutants are recognized as characteristic of different runoff landscapes, i.e. nutrients, metals, solids, etc. Sampling devices were constructed and implemented in selected basins around Youngstown State campus.Storm water quality sampling was performed to establish a baseline for storm water contaminant loading around Youngstown State University.Water quality parameters included: biochemical oxygen demand, total solids, total suspended solids, total volatile solids, Escherichia coli (E.coli), coliform, pH, conductivity, nitrate, ammonium, phosphorus, and soluble metals.Samples were collected during ten rain events between the months of October 2011 to May 2012.Water quality analysis of the collected storm water samples testing results showed highly variable contaminant loading between basin types and between seasons.As a general trend, roadway basins proved to have heavier pollutant loading than grass or parking lot basins.Phase one of storm water characterization proved a success and this data will be used as the groundwork for future research.I'd like to thank Dr. Jeffrey Dick and Mr. Harry Bircher for providing me with this opportunity to work with them over the past two years and for the wisdom they've imparted upon me in that time.I would also like to thank Youngstown State's Center for Transportation and Materials Engineering for funding this project.Thank you to Dr. Felicia Armstrong, for her endless patience, tireless effort, and vast knowledge the area of water quality parameters.Thank you to Dr. Hans Tritico for his valuable input and some of the best advice I've
Author: Patrick T. Maple
Institution: Youngstown State University
Language: English
Subfield: Environmental Engineering
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2612231805