Understanding nutrient build-up on urban road surfaces
Nandika Prasadani Miguntanna , Ashantha Goonetilleke , Prasanna Egodowatta , Serge Kokot
DOI:
Received October 23, 2009,Revised January 15, 2010, Accepted , Available online
Volume 22,2010,Pages 806-812
- Summary
- References
- Related Articles
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 PO4
3??. 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 tra c 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 m. Therefore,
the removal of particles below 150 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 di erence in the composition of nitrogen and phosphorus build-up in the
context of designing e ective stormwater quality mitigation strategies.
