Removal and fate of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon pollutants in an urban stormwater bioretention facility.

TLDR: The results indicate that bioretention is a promising management practice to control runoff PAH pollutants and that a shallow cell design may be adequate for systems focusing on PAH removal.

Abstract: This research investigated the removal and fate of 16 USEPA priority pollutant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from urban stormwater runoff through a bioretention cell. Bioretention is an infiltration/filtration practice containing a mixed layer of about 90 cm of soil, sand, and organic matter, planted with appropriate vegetation. Field water quality monitoring and bioretention media core analyses were performed. The results indicate that bioretention is a promising management practice to control runoff PAH pollutants. The PAH event mean concentration (EMC) reduction ranged from 31 to 99%, with a mean discharge EMC of 0.22 μg/L. The mass load decreased from a mean value of 0.0180 kg/ha yr to 0.0025 kg/ha yr, suggesting an average PAH mass load reduction of 87% to the discharging watershed. The most dominant PAH species monitored were fluoranthene and pyrene. Influent PAHs indicated strong affiliation with runoff total suspended solids (TSS). As such, PAH removal positively correlated with TSS remo...