Date of Award

8-2012

Access Control

Open Access

Degree Name

Multidisciplinary Studies - Individualized Option, M.S.

Department

Multidisciplinary Studies

Advisor

Kimberley N. Irvine, Ph.D., Professor of Geography and Planning

Department Home page

http://graduateschool.buffalostate.edu/multidisciplinary-studies

First Reader

Kimberley N. Irvine, Ph.D., Chairperson of Thesis Committee

Second Reader

Ian G. Droppo, Ph.D., National Water Research Institute, Environment Canada

Third Reader

James Mayrose, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Technology

Abstract

Urbanization can negatively impact water quality due to increasing impervious surfaces, which ultimately increases the hydrologic and contaminant load during rain events. Stormwater runoff contains high concentrations of contaminants that accumulate on the impervious surfaces and discharge into local water bodies, affecting aquatic life, recreational usages, aesthetic appearance, and possibly drinking water supply. Best Management Practices (BMPs) are important to minimizing and reducing the amount of water pollution that is found in stormwater runoff. Buffalo State Campus (BSC) is in an urbanized area and currently holds a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit to control stormwater runoff by implementing BMPs. BSC installed a hydrodynamic separator system (In - Line Stormceptor STC - 2400 ®Stormceptor) manufactured by Rinker to reduce stormwater pollution. It is designed to remove sediment particles from stormwater runoff and as well as variety of pollutants by means of a centrifugal force. A patented flow by – pass built into the Stormceptor helps to prevent scouring of the deposited sediments.

The objective of this research is to test the performance of the Stormceptor by collecting influent and effluent water samples during four different rain events and calculating removal efficiency (%) reduction for total suspended solids (TSS), heavy metals, oil and grease, and particle-bound pollutants. A Personal Computer version of Storm Water Management Model (PCSWMM) was used to estimate the stormwater runoff rate and volume. The model was calibrated satisfactorily using flow data and rainfall collected in campus and the calibrated model can be used in the future to model contaminant loads. Various entities have tested the performance of the Stormceptor in the past including the New Jersey Corporation of Advanced Technologies (NJCAT) where there was a 75% removal rate of TSS and 95% removal rate of oil and grease. The BSC Stormceptor showed lots of variability at removing pollutants in the stormwater runoff, but on average the Stormceptor performed well at removing heavy metals and oil and grease. Overall the Stormceptor removed pollutants whether there was frequent or infrequent rainfall (high or low flows) and future studies need to be conducted.

Comments

I would like to thank my mom and sister Elizabeth and Jalana Price, for supporting me with my endeavors and assisting me with my “water quality stuff,” as they like to call it. I want to express my gratitude to Dr. Kim Irvine my thesis advisor and mentor, for guiding me throughout my two years spent in graduate school, and giving me a more in depth knowledge on water quality issues. I would like to thank him for prepping me for my thesis by giving me the opportunity to work on other major projects relating to water sampling. Most of all, I want to thank him for encouraging me and giving me words of advice to finish my thesis, when I wanted to quit a few times. I would also like to give him thanks for teaching me about PCSWMM when I was struggling to learn it on my own.

This research would be impossible if it wasn’t for a team of people that came together to assist me with a budget for supplies, deployment team, and allowing me to borrow water quality instruments. Therefore, I would like to thank the BSC Geography and Planning Department for offering me an office to work on my thesis and for allowing me to use their Water Quality Lab to conduct my research and supplying me with a budget. I would like to thank John Bleech and the entire Environmental Health and Safety staff at BSC for their support with my thesis, for installing the flow meter, and their patience in collecting water samples and patrolling traffic. I would like to thank Dr. Stephen Vermette for allowing me to use the Meteorology Lab to monitor rain data using the Davis Pro Advantage Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge. I would like to give a big thanks to my theses advisors Dr. James Mayrose and Dr. Ian Droppo for taking the time out and making the commitment to helping me with my thesis.

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