PHOSPHORUS RETENTION BY STORMWATER DETENTION AREAS: ESTIMATION, ENHANCEMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Abstract:

Stormwater detention areas (SDAs) are considered an important best management practice (BMP) both in agricultural and urban areas. In sub-tropical Florida where sandy soils and shallow water table make the nutrient leaching losses from agricultural areas inevitable, the SDAs are relied upon as a last point of treatment. Field-measured water and phosphorus (P) fluxes from an agricultural SDA showed that contrary to generally held view, the SDA was a source of P for the first year (retention efficiency = -12%). For the next year, the SDA served as a sink (54%). The source function of the SDA was a combined effect of high rainfall, dilution of agricultural drainage with rainfall from a tropical storm, and legacy-based soil P saturation. Volume reduction was the main reason for P retention because of no remaining P sorption capacity in the soil in most of the SDA area. Although a net sink of P for Year 2, an event-wise analysis showed the SDA to be a source of P for three out of seven outflow events in Year 2 indicating P release from soil. Because surface P treatment efficiency during both years was either less than or approximately the same as surface water retention efficiency, volume reduction and not sorption or biological assimilation controlled P retention. Hydraulic (e.g. increased storage), managerial (biomass harvesting) and chemical (alum treatment) modifications were evaluated by using a stormwater treatment model and field data. The model was successfully field-verified using well accepted performance measures (e.g. Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency). Maximum additional P retention was shown to be achieved by biomass harvesting (>100%) followed by chemical treatment (71%), and increased spillage level (29%). Economic feasibility of the aforementioned modifications and development of a payment for environmental services (PES) program was identified through a cost-benefit analysis for maintaining these SDAs as sink of P in the long-term.