Removal of hydrophilic, hydrophobic, and charged xenobiotic organic compounds from greywater using green wall media.

Green walls offer a novel on-site approach for greywater treatment and reuse in densely build urban environments. However, they need to be engineered for effective removal of a wide range of emerging contaminants such as xenobiotic organic compounds (XOCs), which may be present in greywater due to extensive use of personal care products and household chemicals. This study used laboratory column design and batch experiments to investigate the performance of three lightweight green wall media (coco coir, zeolite, and perlite) and their mixture in three different combinations for the removal of twelve XOCs, covering wide range of hydrophilic, hydrophobic, and charged pollutants in greywater. The experiments were designed to assess the removal of targeted XOCs under different operational condition (i.e., hydraulic loading, infiltration rate, drying) and uncover the dominant mechanisms of their removal. Results showed excellent removal (>90%) of all XOCs in coco coir and media mix columns at the start of the experiment (i.e., fresh media and initial 2 pore volume (PV) of greywater dosing). The removal of highly hydrophobic and positively charged XOCs remained high (>90%) under all operational conditions, while hydrophilic and negatively charged XOCs exhibited significant reduction in removal after 25 PV and 50 PV, possibly due to their low adsorption affinity and electrostatic repulsion from negatively charged media. The effect of infiltration rate on the removal of XOCs was not significant; however, higher removal was achieved after 2-weeks of drying in coco coir and media mix columns. The dominant removal mechanism for most XOCs was found to be adsorption, however, a few hydrophilic XOCs (i.e., acetaminophen and atrazine) exhibited both adsorption and biodegradation removal processes. While findings showed promising prospects of unvegetated media for removing XOCs from greywater, long term studies on vegetated green wall systems are needed to understand any synergetic contribution of plants and media in removing these XOCs.

The comparative performance of lightweight green wall media for the removal of xenobiotic organic compounds from domestic greywater.

Green walls can provide an aesthetic approach to treat domestic greywater in urban landscapes. However, the widespread adoption of green walls for greywater treatment depends on its performance to remove the emerging contaminants from greywater such as xenobiotic organic compounds (XOCs). In this study, the performance of five lightweight green wall media types (zeolite, perlite, date seeds, coffee grinds, and coco coir) was evaluated for the removal of six XOCs representing a range of hydrophilic to hydrophobic organic micropollutants in domestic greywater (acetaminophen, diethyltoluamide, bisphenol A, oxybenzone, triclosan, nonylphenol). The adsorption affinity of targeted XOCs on different green wall media types, the role of contact time on XOCs removal, and the impact of background pollutants in greywater matrix on the adsorption of XOCs were analysed. Results indicate that removal of XOCs was higher using carbonaceous waste materials (date seeds, coffee grinds, and coco coir) as compared to natural minerals (zeolite and perlite). Moreover, the adsorption of XOCs increased with the increase in pollutant hydrophobicity. All XOCs showed highest removal using coco coir with fast adsorption kinetics, achieving 90% of the removal in 30 min. The only exception was acetaminophen that showed best removal using zeolite but exhibited slow adsorption kinetics with 90% of the removal attained in 24 h. The initial adsorption kinetics (<30 min) of XOCs in greywater were adversely affected by the presence of background pollutants, indicating the need of higher residence time of greywater in green wall system for better removal of XOCs. Based on the findings of this batch study, it is recommended to design a green wall system with more than 30 min of greywater residence time using a mixture of coco coir and zeolite for effective removal of XOCs from domestic greywater.

Illicit discharge detection in stormwater drains using an Arduino-based low-cost sensor network.

Illicit discharges in urban stormwater drains are a major environmental concern that deteriorate downstream waterway health. Conventional detection methods such as stormwater drain visual inspection and dye testing have fundamental drawbacks and limitations which can prevent easy location and elimination of illegal discharges in a catchment. We deployed 22 novel low-cost level, temperature and conductivity sensors across an urban catchment in Melbourne for a year to monitor the distributed drainage network, thereby detecting likely illicit discharges ranging from a transitory flow with less than 10 minutes to persistent flows lasting longer than 20 hours. We discuss rapid deployment methods, real-time data collection and online processing. The ensemble analysis of all dry weather flow data across all sites indicates that: (i) large uncertainties are associated with discharge frequency, duration, and variation in water quality within industrial and residential land uses; (ii) most dry weather discharges are intermittent and transient flows which are difficult to detect and not simply due to cross-connections with the sewerage network; (iii) detectable diurnal discharge patterns can support mitigation efforts, including policies and regulatory measures (e.g., enforcement or education) to protect receiving waterways; and, (iv) that it is possible to cost effectively isolate sources of dry weather pollution using a distributed sensor network.

Calibration and sensitivity analysis of a novel water flow and pollution model for future city planning: Future Urban Stormwater Simulation (FUSS).

Planning for future urban development and water infrastructure is uncertain due to changing human activities and climate. To quantify these changes, we need adaptable and fast models that can reliably explore scenarios without requiring extensive data and inputs. While such models have been recently considered for urban development, they are lacking for stormwater pollution assessment. This work proposes a novel Future Urban Stormwater Simulation (FUSS) model, utilizing a previously developed urban planning algorithm (UrbanBEATS) to dynamically assess pollution changes in urban catchments. By using minimal input data and adding stochastic point-source pollution to the build-up/wash-off approach, this study highlights calibration and sensitivity analysis of flow and pollution modules, across the range of common stormwater pollutants. The results highlight excellent fit to measured values in a continuous rainfall simulation for the flow model, with one significant calibration parameter. The pollution model was more variable, with TSS, TP and Pb showing high model efficiency, while TN was predicted well only across event-based assessment. The work further explores the framework for the model application in future pollution assessment, and points to the future work aiming to developing land-use dependent model parameter sets, to achieve flexibility for model application across varied urban catchments.

New prebiotic chemistry inspired filter media for stormwater/greywater disinfection.

Greywater and stormwater have received significant attention due to increasing water scarcity. Passive filtration such as biofiltration has been a popular treatment method with its low energy input and environmental friendliness. However, pathogen removal capacity needs improvement to achieve safe water quality. In this study, a prebiotic chemistry inspired copolymer based on aminomalononitrile and 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzaldehyde (AMNT30) was introduced to develop antimicrobial media for passive filtration. The AMNT30 polymer provided an adhesive coating on zeolite substrates following a spontaneous polymerisation process at room temperature. AMNT30 coated media were investigated for metal loading capacity, surface morphology, E. coli removal and metal leaching after filtration of different water sources (i.e. stormwater, greywater, and deionised water) at low/high conductivity. The coating enhanced metal ion loading on the surface and demonstrated that >8 log reduction of E. coli can be achieved for silver loaded materials compared to a 1 log reduction for copper loaded materials. The coating also increased the stability of the metals on the media irrespective of inflow characteristics. This study provided the first example using AMNT30 to create antimicrobial water purification media. It is expected that this technology will find applications in the water treatment industry.

Integrated modelling of stormwater treatment systems uptake.

Nature-based solutions provide a variety of benefits in growing cities, ranging from stormwater treatment to amenity provision such as aesthetics. However, the decision-making process involved in the installation of such green infrastructure is not straightforward, as much uncertainty around the location, size, costs and benefits impedes systematic decision-making. We developed a model to simulate decision rules used by local municipalities to install nature-based stormwater treatment systems, namely constructed wetlands, ponds/basins and raingardens. The model was used to test twenty-four scenarios of policy-making, by combining four asset selection, two location selection and three budget constraint decision rules. Based on the case study of a local municipality in Metropolitan Melbourne, Australia, the modelled uptake of stormwater treatment systems was compared with attributes of real-world systems for the simulation period. Results show that the actual budgeted funding is not reliable to predict systems' uptake and that policy-makers are more likely to plan expenditures based on installation costs. The model was able to replicate the cumulative treatment capacity and the location of systems. As such, it offers a novel approach to investigate the impact of using different decision rules to provide environmental services considering biophysical and economic factors.

Modelling transitions in urban water systems.

Long term planning of urban water infrastructure requires acknowledgement that transitions in the water system are driven by changes in the urban environment, as well as societal dynamics. Inherent to the complexity of these underlying processes is that the dynamics of a system's evolution cannot be explained by linear cause-effect relationships and cannot be predicted under narrow sets of assumptions. Planning therefore needs to consider the functional behaviour and performance of integrated flexible infrastructure systems under a wide range of future conditions. This paper presents the first step towards a new generation of integrated planning tools that take such an exploratory planning approach. The spatially explicit model, denoted DAnCE4Water, integrates urban development patterns, water infrastructure changes and the dynamics of socio-institutional changes. While the individual components of the DAnCE4Water model (i.e. modules for simulation of urban development, societal dynamics and evolution/performance of water infrastructure) have been developed elsewhere, this paper presents their integration into a single model. We explain the modelling framework of DAnCE4Water, its potential utility and its software implementation. The integrated model is validated for the case study of an urban catchment located in Melbourne, Australia.

Towards water sensitive cities in Asia: an interdisciplinary journey.

Rapid urbanisation, population growth and the effects of climate change drive the need for sustainable urban water management (SUWM) in Asian cities. The complexity of this challenge calls for the integration of knowledge from different disciplines and collaborative approaches. This paper identifies key issues and sets the stage for interdisciplinary research on SUWM in Asia. It reports on the initial stages of a SUWM research programme being undertaken at Monash University, Australia, and proposes a framework to guide the process of interdisciplinary research in urban water management. Three key themes are identified: (1) Technology and Innovation, (2) Urban Planning and Design, and (3) Governance and Society. Within these themes 12 research projects are being undertaken across Indonesia, China, India and Bangladesh. This outward-looking, interdisciplinary approach guides our research in an effort to transgress single-discipline solutions and contribute on-ground impact to SUWM practices in Asia.

Source tracking using microbial community fingerprints: Method comparison with hydrodynamic modelling.

Urban estuaries around the world are experiencing contamination from diffuse and point sources, which increases risks to public health. To mitigate and manage risks posed by elevated levels of contamination in urban waterways, it is critical to identify the primary water sources of contamination within catchments. Source tracking using microbial community fingerprints is one tool that can be used to identify sources. However, results derived from this approach have not yet been evaluated using independent datasets. As such, the key objectives of this investigation were: (1) to identify the major sources of water responsible for bacterial loadings within an urban estuary using microbial source tracking (MST) using microbial communities; and (2) to evaluate this method using a 3-dimensional hydrodynamic model. The Yarra River estuary, which flows through the city of Melbourne in South-East Australia was the focus of this study. We found that the water sources contributing to the bacterial community in the Yarra River estuary varied temporally depending on the estuary's hydrodynamic conditions. The water source apportionment determined using microbial community MST correlated to those determined using a 3-dimensional hydrodynamic model of the transport and mixing of a tracer in the estuary. While there were some discrepancies between the two methods, this investigation demonstrated that MST using bacterial community fingerprints can identify the primary water sources of microorganisms in an estuarine environment. As such, with further optimization and improvements, microbial community MST has the potential to become a powerful tool that could be practically applied in the mitigation of contaminated aquatic systems.

Root biomass production in populations of six rooted macrophytes in response to Cu exposure: intra-specific variability versus constitutive-like tolerance.

Intra-specific variability of root biomass production (RP) of six rooted macrophytes, i.e. Juncus effusus, Phragmites australis, Schoenoplectus lacustris, Typha latifolia, Phalaris arundinacea, and Iris pseudacorus grown from clones, in response to Cu exposure was investigated. Root biomass production varied widely for all these macrophytes in control conditions (0.08 µM) according to the sampling site. Root biomass production of T. latifolia and I. pseudacorus in the 2.5-25 µM Cu range depended on the sampling location but not on the Cu dose in the growth medium. For P. australis, J. effusus, S. lacustris, and P. arundinacea, an intra-specific variability of RP depending on both the sampling location and the Cu-dose was evidenced. This intra-specific variability of RP depending on the sampling location and of Cu-tolerance for these last four species suggests that Cu constitutive tolerance for all rooted macrophytes is not a species-wide trait but it exhibits variability for some species.

Survival of Escherichia coli in stormwater biofilters.

Biofilters are widely adopted in Australia for stormwater treatment, but the reported removal of common faecal indicators (such as Escherichia coli (E. coli)) varies from net removal to net leaching. Currently, the underlying mechanisms that govern the faecal microbial removal in the biofilters are poorly understood. Therefore, it is important to study retention and subsequent survival of faecal microorganisms in the biofilters under different biofilter designs and operational characteristics. The current study investigates how E. coli survival is influenced by temperature, moisture content, sunlight exposure and presence of other microorganisms in filter media and top surface sediment. Soil samples were taken from two different biofilters to investigate E. coli survival under controlled laboratory conditions. Results revealed that the presence of other microorganisms and temperature are vital stressors which govern the survival of E. coli captured either in the top surface sediment or filter media, while sunlight exposure and moisture content are important for the survival of E. coli captured in the top surface sediment compared to that of the filter media. Moreover, increased survival was found in the filter media compared to the top sediment, and sand filter media was found be more hostile than loamy sand filter media towards E. coli survival. Results also suggest that the contribution from the tested environmental stressors on E. coli survival in biofilters will be greatly affected by the seasonality and may vary from one site to another.

Uncertainty analysis in urban drainage modelling: should we break our back for normally distributed residuals?

This study presents results on the assessment of the application of a Bayesian approach to evaluate the sensitivity and uncertainty associated with urban rainfall-runoff models. The software MICA was adopted, in which the prior information about the parameters is updated to generate the parameter posterior distribution. The likelihood function adopted in MICA assumes that the residuals between the measured and modelled values have a normal distribution. This is a trait of many uncertainty/sensitivity procedures. This study compares the results from three different scenarios: (i) when normality of the residuals was checked but if they were not normal then nothing was done (unverified); (ii) normality assumption was checked, verified (using data transformations) and a weighting strategy was used that gives more importance to high flows; and (iii) normality assumption was checked and verified, but no weights were applied. The modelling implications of such scenarios were analysed in terms of model efficiency, sensitivity and uncertainty assessment. The overall results indicated that verifying the normality assumption required the models to fit a wider portion of the hydrograph, allowing a more detailed inspection of parameters and processes simulated in both models. Such an outcome provided important information about the advantages and limitations of the models' structure.

Evaluating Escherichia coli removal performance in stormwater biofilters: a preliminary modelling approach.

Stormwater biofilters are not currently optimised for pathogen removal since the behaviour of these pollutants within the stormwater biofilters is poorly understood. Modelling is a common way of optimising these systems, which also provides a better understanding of the major processes that govern the pathogen removal. This paper provides an overview of a laboratory-scale study that investigated how different design and operational conditions impact pathogen removal in the stormwater biofilters. These data were then used to develop a modelling tool that can be used to optimise the design and operation of the stormwater biofilters. The model uses continuous simulations where adsorption and desorption were dominant during wet weather periods and first order die-off kinetics were significant in dry periods between the wet weather events. Relatively high Nash Sutcliffe Efficiencies (>0.5) indicate that the calibrated model is in good agreement with observed data and the optimised model parameters were comparable with values reported in the literature. The model's sensitivity is highest towards the adsorption process parameter followed by the die-off and desorption rate parameters, which implies that adsorption is the governing process of the model. Vegetation is found to have an impact on the wet weather processes since the adsorption and desorption parameters vary significantly with the different plant configurations. The model is yet to be tested against field data and needs to be improved to represent the effect of some other biofilter design configurations, such as the inclusion of the submerged zone.

Zinc-sulphate-heptahydrate coated activated carbon for microbe removal from stormwater.

There is a need to develop effective stormwater filters for passive (without any addition of chemicals or energy) and effective removal of pathogens in order to mainstream stormwater harvesting. This study focuses on the development of coated granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration material in order to develop filters for effective removal of pathogens from urban stormwater. Several laboratory trials were performed to gauge the effectiveness of the filters, which use a mixture of the zinc-sulphate-heptahydrate coated GAC and sand, on the removal of Escherichia coli (E. coli) from semi-natural stormwater. On average, a 98% removal of the inflow concentration of E. coli was achieved. Furthermore, there was also an improvement of approximately 25% in the removal of phosphorous. However, it was found that the treated material was leaching zinc. It was important to determine whether the observed removal of E. coli was indirectly caused by the sampling methodology. The results showed that the inactivation of the E. coli in the collected sample was small compared with the inactivation which actually occurred within the filter. This provides much promise to the filter, but the presence of zinc in the outflow demonstrates the need for further investigation into the stabilisation of the coating process.

Evaluating Escherichia coli removal performance in stormwater biofilters: a laboratory-scale study.

Biofilters are common, low energy technologies used for the treatment of urban stormwater. While they have shown promising results for the removal of stormwater microorganisms, certain factors affect their performance. Hence, this study investigated the effects of particle-microbial interaction, inflow concentration, antecedent microbial levels and plant species on microbial removal capacity. A biofilter column study was set up to evaluate removal performance and a sequential filtration procedure was used to estimate microbial partitioning. The columns were dosed with different concentrations of free phase Escherichia coli only and E. coli mixed with stormwater sediment. Results indicate that the microbial removal is significantly affected by inflow concentration and antecedent microbial levels. Leaching was only observed when a relatively low inflow concentration event occurred within a short period after a very high inflow concentration event. Finally, Lomandra longifolia showed better removal compared with Carex appressa.

Performance of enviss™ stormwater filters: results of a laboratory trial.

An experimental study was undertaken by Monash University to develop and test enviss™ stormwater treatment and harvesting technologies - non-vegetated filtration systems with an extremely low footprint. This paper focuses on the water quality and hydraulic performance of two systems tested over a 'year' of operation in a Melbourne climate: (1) REUSE enviss™ filters, designed for stormwater harvesting systems for non-potable supply substitution, and (2) WSUD enviss™ filters, developed to treat urban stormwater prior to discharge to downstream systems. The presence of chlorine as a disinfection agent proved to be very efficient for the removal of microorganisms in REUSE enviss™ filters. WSUD enviss™ filters had the benefit of providing an elevated nutrient treatment performance, due to an extended depth of filter media. However, nutrient outflow concentrations (total nitrogen (TN) in particular) were found to increase during the testing period. Also, extended dry weather periods were found to have a detrimental effect on the treatment performance of almost all pollutants for both filters (nutrients, Escherichia coli and heavy metals). Although hydraulic conductivity results indicated two or three sediment trap replacements per year are required to maintain filtration rates, it is expected that the compressed loading rate schedule overestimated this maintenance frequency.

Intra-event variability of Escherichia coli and total suspended solids in urban stormwater runoff.

Sediment levels are important for environmental health risk assessments of surface water bodies, while faecal pollution can introduce significant public health risks for users of these systems. Urban stormwater is one of the largest sources of contaminants to surface waters, yet the fate and transport of these contaminants (especially those microbiological) have received little attention in the literature. Stormwater runoff from five urbanized catchments were monitored for pathogen indicator bacteria and total suspended solids in two developed countries. Multiple discrete samples were collected during each storm event, allowing an analysis of intra-event characteristics such as initial concentration, peak concentration, maximum rate of change, and relative confidence interval. The data suggest that a catchment's area influences pollutant characteristics, as larger catchments have more complex stormwater infrastructure and more variable pollutant sources. The variability of total suspended solids for many characteristics was similar to Escherichia coli, indicating that the variability of E. coli may not be substantially higher than that of other pollutants as initially speculated. Further, variations in E. coli appeared to be more commonly correlated to antecedent climate, while total suspended solids were more highly correlated to rainfall/runoff characteristics. This emphasizes the importance of climate on microbial persistence and die off in urban systems. Discrete intra-event concentrations of total suspended solids and, to a lesser extent E. coli, were correlated to flow, velocity, and rainfall intensity (adjusted by time of concentrations). Concentration changes were found to be best described by adjusted rainfall intensity, as shown by other researchers. This study has resulted in an increased understanding of the magnitude of intra-event variations of total suspended solids and E. coli and what physical and climatic parameters influence these variations.

Retention of heavy metals by stormwater filtration systems: breakthrough analysis.

Biofiltration systems are widely used to mitigate the impacts of stormwater on receiving waters, however their long-term capacity to retain heavy metals has not previously been assessed. Accelerated-dosing laboratory experiments were used to assess the likelihood of breakthrough occurring for three different types of soil-based filter media that are commonly used in stormwater biofilters. In all cases, breakthrough of zinc (Zn) was observed, but not of cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu) and lead (Pb). If biofiltration systems are sized so that they are large relative to their catchment (at least 2-3% of its area) or have a deep filter layer (at least 0.5 m deep), then breakthrough will not occur for at least ten years and probably longer. However, after the equivalent of 12-15 years of operation, Cd, Cu and Zn had accumulated in the filter media to levels that exceeded human health and/or ecological guidelines. Further, depending on the design, it is possible that spent filter media may be classified as contaminated soil and thus require special disposal.

Hydraulic and treatment performance of pervious pavements under variable drying and wetting regimes.

Pervious pavements are an effective stormwater treatment technology. However, their performance under variable drying and wetting conditions have yet to be tested, particularly under a continuous time scale. This paper reports on the clogging behaviour and pollutant removal efficiency of three pervious pavement types over 26 accelerated years. These pavements were monolithic porous asphalt (PA), Permapave (PP) and modular Hydrapave (HP). Over a cycle of 13 days, the period of which was equivalent to the average annual Brisbane, Australia rainfall (1,200 mm), the pavements were randomly dosed with four different flows. Drying events of 3 h duration were simulated during each flow. Inflow and outflow samples were collected and analysed for Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Phosphorus (TP) and Total Nitrogen (TN). To evaluate the rate of clogging, a 1 in 5 year Brisbane storm event was simulated in the 6th, 8th, 12th, 16th, 20th and 24th week. Under normal dosing conditions, none of the pavements showed signs of clogging even after 15 years. However, under storm conditions, both PA and HP started to clog after 12 years, while PP showed no signs of clogging after 26 years. The drying and various flow events showed no effects in TSS removal, with all systems achieving a removal of approximately 100%. The average TP removal was 20% for all flows except for low flow, which had a significant amount of leaching over time. Leaching from TN was also observed during all flows except high flow. The TSS, TP and TN results observed during storm events were similar to that of high flow.

Sensitivity analysis of an urban stormwater microorganism model.

This paper presents the sensitivity analysis of a newly developed model which predicts microorganism concentrations in urban stormwater (MOPUS--MicroOrganism Prediction in Urban Stormwater). The analysis used Escherichia coli data collected from four urban catchments in Melbourne, Australia. The MICA program (Model Independent Markov Chain Monte Carlo Analysis), used to conduct this analysis, applies a carefully constructed Markov Chain Monte Carlo procedure, based on the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, to explore the model's posterior parameter distribution. It was determined that the majority of parameters in the MOPUS model were well defined, with the data from the MCMC procedure indicating that the parameters were largely independent. However, a sporadic correlation found between two parameters indicates that some improvements may be possible in the MOPUS model. This paper identifies the parameters which are the most important during model calibration; it was shown, for example, that parameters associated with the deposition of microorganisms in the catchment were more influential than those related to microorganism survival processes. These findings will help users calibrate the MOPUS model, and will help the model developer to improve the model, with efforts currently being made to reduce the number of model parameters, whilst also reducing the slight interaction identified.