Experimental investigation of transformation of micropollutants in biofilters: Raingardens

Abstract

Biofilters (bio-retention ponds or rain gardens) are increasingly being used as a system for the storm water treatment in urban areas, because they manage to mitigate the peaks of storm rains and floods, and have shown effective reduction of sediments and nutrients. However, until now very little (or no) number of studies were conducted on the treatment of micropollutants. On the other hand, the list of micropollutants within the list of Priority pollutants in the EU Water Directive every year expands and requires an integrated approach to solving them, including the consideration of storm water pollution as a possible carrier. This study investigated the behavior of two types of bio-filter system construction - with and without the saturated zone, on the rain load with crucial micropollutants (trihalomethanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, total petroleum hydrocarbons, phthalates, halogenated phenols, and pesticides - glyphosate, triazines).

Biofiltri (bioretenzije ili kišne bašte) se sve češće koriste kao sistem za tretiranje atmosferskih voda u urbanim sredinama, jer uspevaju da ublaže pikove kišnih poplava pokazali su da efikasno umanjuju i količine sedimenata nutrijenata. Međutim, do sada je vrlo malo (ili nimalo) urađeno ispitivanja njihovog ponašanja prema mikropolutantma. S druge strane lista mikropolutanata u okviru Prioritetnih zagađivača u Direktivi o Vodama Evropske Unije se svake godine proširuje i zahteva integralni pristup rešavanja pa tako i razmatranje atmosferskih voda kao mogućeg prenosnika zagađenja. Ova studija je ispitivala ponašanje dve vrste konstrukcija biofilterskih sistema - sa i bez zasićene zone, na opterećenje kišom u kojoj su prisutni ključni mikropolutanti (trihalometani, policiklični aromatični ugljovodonici, totalni naftni ugljovodonici, ftalati, halogenizirani fenoli, i pesticidi - glyphosate, triazini).