Survey of Storm Water Quality in an Urban Environment

Abstract

A variety of contaminants are found in urban storm water runoff. Research was carried out on several catch basins around Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio with the purpose of identifying areas of high contaminant concentration for future studies. The area has a variety of land uses, ranging from busy roadways to parking decks to maintained lawns. Different pollutants are recognized as characteristic of different runoff landscapes, i.e. nutrients, metals, solids, etc. Sampling devices were constructed and implemented in selected basins around Youngstown State campus. Storm water quality sampling was performed to establish a baseline for storm water contaminant loading around Youngstown State University. Water quality parameters included: biochemical oxygen demand, total solids, total suspended solids, total volatile solids, Escherichia coli (E. coli), coliform, pH, conductivity, nitrate, ammonium, phosphorus, and soluble metals. Samples were collected during ten rain events between the months of October 2011 to May 2012. Water quality analysis of the collected storm water samples testing results showed highly variable contaminant loading between basin types and between seasons. As a general trend, roadway basins proved to have heavier pollutant loading than grass or parking lot basins. Phase one of storm water characterization proved a success and this data will be used as the groundwork for future research.