Comparison of pollutant removal efficiency for two residential storm waterbasins

Detention basins with a low-flow concrete channel or a vegetated channel ar e two types of storm water collection basins examined in this study to asse ss effectiveness in water quality improvement. Influent and effluent data c ollected from four storm events include how petroleum hydrocarbons, nutrien ts, total suspended solids, three major ions, and indicator organisms. The calculation of influent and effluent mass loading for each basin determines the removal efficiency, which is used to rank the more effective basin for water quality improvement. As expected, the detention basin with a low-flo w concrete channel was found to be ineffective for improving the water qual ity of storm water. The vegetated detention basin was also found essentiall y ineffective for water quality improvement for all four storms, with low i nfluent mass loading and flushing of stored water the most probable reasons for this result.