Learning from the operation, pathology and maintenance of a bioretention system to optimize urban drainage practices

Author(s)

de Macedo, Marina Batalini ; Rosa, Altair ; Ferreira do Lago, Cesar Ambrogi ; Mendiondo, Eduardo Mario ; Borges de Souza, Vladimir Caramori

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Journal of Environmental Management; v. 204, p. 13-pg., 2017-12-15.

Abstract

LID practices for runoff control are increasingly being used as an integrated solution in urban drainage, helping to achieve hydrological balance close to the pre-urbanized period and decrease the diffuse pollution transported to urban rivers. Regarding bioretention, there is already broad knowledge about the detention of peak flows and their treatment capacity for many pollutants. However, there are still few field studies in microdrainage scale, which analyze the actual operation of these devices and raise common problems found, especially in subtropical climate. Therefore, this study aims to show what was learnt from the field operation of a bioretention cell on a micro-drainage scale, located in an urban catchment of a Brazilian city, suggesting maintenance actions as adaptations to the pathologies found. Five rainy events were monitored during the dry season, in order to carry out a preliminary analysis for critical conditions in terms of maintenance and diffuse pollution accumulation. From the first water balance results, low storage and low infiltration capacity of the soil were found as main pathologies. They led to a great amount of runoff passing directly through the cell surface and at a high velocity, resulting in soil erosion and low water retention efficiency. To overcome these problems, some structural adaptations were made over the cell, highlighting, the semi-direct injection. The maintenance and adaptations proposed were suitable to avoid the erosion process, increasing the storage and improving the water retention efficiency in bioretention. They should be considered from the very initial stages, to using sites with low permeability. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 15/20979-7 - Optimizing bioretention operation and maintenance of stormwater treatment practices in subtropical climate
• Grantee: Marina Batalini de Macedo
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• FAPESP's process: 14/50848-9 - INCT 2014: INCT for Climate Change
• Grantee: Jose Antonio Marengo Orsini
• Support Opportunities: Research Program on Global Climate Change - Thematic Grants