Field testing of a low-cost retrofit filter berm to treat stormwater runoff contaminants.

Details

• Creators:
  Roseen, Robert M. ; Houle, James J. ; Ballestero, Thomas P.
• Corporate Creators:
  University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Berms Drainage Field Tests Filter Drains Gabions Retrofitting Runoff Watersheds
• Publication/ Report Number:
  ME 06-1
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Maine
• Corporate Publisher:
  Maine. Dept. of Transportation
• Abstract:
  The goal of this cooperative effort between MaineDOT and the University of New Hampshire was to test a low-cost
  
  retrofit filter berm that would reduce non-point pollution from highway runoff. The retrofit berm would be easy to
  
  construct using readily available materials and construction equipment and would be designed to treat and remove
  
  certain constituents of the incoming stormwater runoff.
  
  The UNH Stormwater Research Center field research facility was ideally suited for this trial project. The center is
  
  located on the Durham, NH campus, and consists of an experimental facility that includes an upstream watershed
  
  area of approximately nine acres of student parking lot area.
  
  On this project an “engineered filter berm” was constructed and tested during several storm events. The research
  
  showed that this particular design did not perform as expected. The primary weaknesses of the design are high
  
  maintenance associated with clogging by leaf litter. Conclusions from the research are that the filter berm has some
  
  potential for a low cost retrofit in areas where leaf litter is not anticipated.
  
  Data collection for the project was cut short, however, due a 100 year storm event that caused the structure to fail.
  
  During the failure, the 8 inch stone outer casing was washed away. This allowed the core material, crushed stone
  
  and wood chips, to rapidly erode. The structural failure from overtopping by hydraulic overload could be addressed
  
  by using larger stone or by encasing the stone armor in wire wraps such as gabions
  
  
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:ec0cd24fe93e98580da4be289f2cea1f472dcaac8840f72d2fe60a958734401a
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/27276/dot_27276_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.37 MB ]