CICEET Progress Report for the period 9/01/08 Through 2/15/09

Project Title: UNH Stormwater Center Report
Report Compiled By: James Houle

Figures

Figure 1

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Figure 5

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Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Figure 10

Tables

Table 1

Treatment System & Field Site Update
In February 2008 the UNH Stormwater Center (UNHSC) completed Phase II testing submitted requisite reports and began phase III testing which includes additional monitoring contracts on the following treatment units:
1. StormTech Isolator Row ­ StormTech LLC, year two testing
2. Deep Sump Catch Basin ­ non-proprietary
3. Extended Detention Pond (Dry Pond) ­ non-proprietary
4. Source Control Bioretention Retrofit ­ non-proprietary

Discussions are currently underway regarding potential retrofitting of the field site to make treatment technology installation and swapping easier, less expensive, and less invasive.

Monitoring Update
All data collection and generation processes have been tailored to the most current standards used in the field, namely the Technology Acceptance and Reciprocity Protocol (TARP), EPA's Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) programs, and Washington Department of Ecology (WADOE) Technology Assessment Protocol ­ Ecology (TAPE). In addition the UNHSC in cooperation with the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (RI CRMC) have established a sediment performance standard which will be incorporated in new regulations and requirements outlined in the Cleaner Bay Act passed by the RI legislature in 2007 and in the new revised RIDEM stormwater design manual expected early 2009. The new NHDES Stormwater Manual uses several references from UNHSC including the following:

1. University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center. 2007 Annual Report. Durham, NH. 2007a. Available at: http://ciceet.unh.edu/unh_stormwater_report_2007/SC_Report_2007.pdf
2. University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center. Bioretention System. Treatment Unit Fact Sheet. Available at: http://www.unh.edu/erg/cstev/fact_sheets/bioretention.pdf
3. University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center. Gravel Wetland. Treatment Unit Fact Sheet. Available at: http://www.unh.edu/erg/cstev/fact_sheets/gravel_wetland.pdf
4. University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center. Surface Sand Filter. Treatment Unit Fact Sheet. Available at: http://www.unh.edu/erg/cstev/fact_sheets/surface_sand_filter.pdf
5. University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center. UNHSC Design Specifications for Porous Asphalt Pavement and Infiltration Beds. Durham, NH. 2007b.

Our revised monitoring approach is proving to be worthwhile providing for larger data sets throughout the year with increased versatility in regards to sampling analytes and lower detection limits. Composite sampling methods have been adopted from existing literature sources and represent the standard of practice for the majority of national stormwater quality treatment performance assessments.

Composite sampling has multiple benefits which include:

• Larger datasets
• Ability to sample rain events more frequently
• Reduction in laboratory costs allowing expanded contaminant assessment
• Reduced QA/QC burden resulting in faster processing of data

As a result the Center anticipates 32 composite sampling events per system per year as well as 4 discrete events (1 per season).

General quality assurance, maintenance, and calibration protocols have been updated as of May 2008 to meet more stringent criteria demanded in the advancing standards of credible BMP verification programs and are conducted on all research equipment and instrumentation according to our updated Quality Assurance Program Protocol (QAPP). UNHSC staff is also contributing to the development of advanced stormwater treatment standards on both regional and national fronts; sitting on the ASCE/EWRI task committee developing guidelines for certification of manufactured stormwater BMPs as well as serving on several local advisory committees and commissions, including the newly formed NH legislative stormwater commission and the Piscataqua Regional Estuaries Partnership (PREP) Management Plan Revision committee.

The Center has added three additional contaminants to our contaminant suite, ortho-phosphate and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) for two seal-coated parking lot test areas at the west edge lot, and suspended sediment concentration (SSC).

A number of innovative experiments have been designed and conducted in order to increase our research program credibility and add to information gaps in the field of innovative stormwater research. The majority of innovative and ongoing research activities for this quarter are outlined in below:

Conventional Best Management Practices: This involves a retention pond, a detention pond, and at least two additional BMP retrofits for the swale: a vegetated swale, constructed May, 2005, a vegetated swale with modified check damns, constructed in September 2006, and a deep sump catch basin installed in September of 2007.

Manufactured Treatment Devices: This involves 2 subsurface infiltration systems, a subsurface filtration system, and 3 variations of hydrodynamic separators.

Low Impact Designs: This involves 2 bioretention systems, a gravel wetland, a tree filter, a sand filter and a porous asphalt parking lot. Three year data set plots for the range of systems strongly demonstrates the superior treatment effectiveness of LID systems across the range of contaminants.

Porous Pavement: A thesis on this topic has been completed May, 2008. Porous Pavement study areas consist of a porous asphalt lot, a pervious concrete lot, and adjacent dense mix asphalt (impervious pavement) reference lots. Winter places great demands on pavements so it is of particular interest to evaluate how they compare to conventional designs. Analyses included measurements of frost penetration, surface infiltration rates, snow and ice cover, skid resistance, and effective salt loads. We found that infiltration rates were retained in winter conditions even with frost depths as high as 27-inches. A 75% average reduction in annual salt use was observed for porous asphalt based on low amounts of snow and ice cover and high skid resistance. 'Black-ice' did not form on pervious concrete, eliminating the need for salt during thawing-refreezing conditions. Pavement color and shading were found to be major factors influencing the amount and duration of snow/ice cover. The figure below summaries the skid resistance values that were observed on the different parking lots with the varying salt application rates. What we see is that porous asphalt at 25% salt application exhibited the highest friction and level of safety when compared to the other designs such as pervious concrete and conventional dense mix asphalt at 100% salt application.

Other factors that are being investigated are pavement and subsurface temperatures, ambient air temperatures, frost penetration, groundwater levels, and residual salt mass remaining on the pavement surfaces after precipitation events.

Assessment of Microbial Activity in Stormwater Treatment Devices: A thesis on this topic has been completed May, 2006. Additional research was conducted as an independent study and completed in September 2006. Work on a paper for publication is ongoing. Additional monitoring and microbial source tracking is being conducted by a graduate student under Dr. Steven Jones at UNH JEL, summary of results and a journal publication submission are expected soon.

Sealcoat Study: In the fall of 2007 two types of sealcoat, one coal-tar and one asphalt-based, were applied to test sections of the UNHSC parking lot. UNHSC Staff and students continued monitoring the release of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from seal coated parking lots in 2008. PAH concentrations in stormwater runoff from the sealed lots are one to two orders of magnitude higher than concentrations from the control lot.

Sediment samples were collected in the UNHSC swale in October 2007, prior to seal coating, in June 2008, and October 2008. The swale receives runoff from both the 9 acre control lot and the 0.3 acre coal tar sealed lot. Samples collected prior to seal coating contained less than 4 mg/kg. Samples collected after the sealcoat was applied contain up to 95.7 mg/kg (Figure X), which exceeds the NOAA Effects Range Median for sediments (44.7 mg/kg).

In October, representatives from the Pavement Coatings Technology Council visited the UNHSC to discuss the project, and Dr. Watts met with industry representatives and USEPA Region 5 staff in Chicago in December 2008. A second phase of this study, which will measure PAHs exported by wind and tire tracking, has been funded by the USEPA's Great Lakes National Program Office.

Gravel Wetland Nutrient Removal Study
Nitrogen and phosphorus removal effectiveness and processes are being measured at the UNHSC's gravel wetland. In the summer of 2008 the gravel wetland forebay was stripped of vegetation and reseeded. Sampling resumed in September and it was found that the subsurface cells are successfully removing contaminants, although nutrients and TSS associated with unconsolidated sediment were being released in the forebay. This is expected to be resolved as the forebay vegetation becomes more fully established.

Statistical analysis of site water quality data
UNHSC staff are engaged in an ongoing project to compile site water quality data into an accessible database, and to develop statistical descriptors for each treatment system. The UNHSC has over 4 years of data (flow, pH, DO, conductivity and temperature) collected every five minutes at the d-box and each of the treatment systems. The size and resolution of this data set is unique and presents an opportunity to develop detailed statistical parameters for the site. Basic statistics such as mean and standard deviation are used to characterize the impact each system has on water quality over several years. This information will be used to identify technologies which are best able to maintain or restore optimal water chemistry and hydrology.

Sediment Concentration Monitoring in Transportation Runoff: A thesis on this topic has been completed Dec, 2008 entitled "Verifying the Accuracy of Common Sediment Concentration Monitoring Methods in Stormwater Runoff."

This investigation provides information regarding the effectiveness of monitoring methods for the measurement of sediment concentration in stormwater. The experiment was conducted at the end of a ten acre parking lot's stormwater drainage system. Four common field methods were implemented to monitor sediment concentration in the drainage system and each respective event mean concentration (EMC) was compared to a known EMC. Eighteen rain events were monitored, spread over the course of two years. The suspended sediment concentration (SSC) analytical method is demonstrated higher accuracy than the Total Suspended Solids (TSS) method for stormwater samples collected by an automatic sampler. Figure 9 shows that the former method (SSC) is a better predictor of the true sediment concentration (TC) that the latter method (TSS) in Figure 10.

Stormwater Quality Model: A Bayesian statistical approach for determining parameter uncertainty of a stormwater treatment model was developed. Pollutant removal was simulated by using an n-order decay model in which the removal rate (k) and the decay order (n) are the parameters. Monte Carlo simulations were performed to evaluate the variation of the predicted effluent concentrations for three stormwater systems: a sand filter, a retention pond, and a gravel wetland. It was found that first and second order decay models were more likely to describe effluent concentrations. However, the performance of the model varied depending on the contaminant and storm. The following contaminants were selected for the study: total suspended solids (TSS), total petroleum hydrocarbons - diesel range hydrocarbons (TPH-D), dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN, comprised of nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia), and Zinc (Zn). The Bayesian model was improved by making the error variance a parameter of the model. Activities included the preparation of journal articles, graphs, and tables. Additionally, comments from UNH researches were addressed to improve the quality of the papers.

Research status: Two manuscripts (1 and 2) were submitted to a scientific journal and are currently under review. Two other technical papers (3 and 4) are in preparation.

Hydrological Response of SWM-LID Practices
Many surface water bodies have been severely degraded by runoff from centuries of continuous human development. Local governments are beginning to responsibly respond to the need for action about increased imperviousness by adopting local Low Impact Development (LID) ordinances. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hydrologic abilities of LID development to: reduce peak runoff flow rates to the pre-development values; to infiltrate the recharge volumes mandated by current criteria; and to attenuate the impacts of extreme storm events. A numerical simulation was performed on a 4-hectare site for pre-development as well as residential development with Conventional and LID stormwater management design scenarios. Research results from four years of intense monitoring of LID systems at the University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center were integrated into these hydrologic models. Analyses were performed for hydrologic soil types A and C, for storms with recurrence intervals of 0.17-, 2-, 10-, and 100-years, as well as 2-, 10-, and 100-years adjusted for climate change. The results show that the LID site design: generated much lower runoff volumes than the Conventional and Pre-development site conditions; infiltrated more than the recharge volumes required by current regulations; and attenuated the impacts of extreme storms modified for climate change.

Performance Assessment Data (may only be applicable yearly)s
Performance assessments have been completed for the last three years (see figures 1-5) and were finalized in August 2008. Results from the first two years of monitoring can be reviewed in the 2007 annual report. Performance assessments for the past 4 years have been compiled and are currently undergoing rigorous quality assurance assessment. Results will be finalized for our September report and will be used in the production of our 2009 annual report. These results will be presented in the fall 2009 progress report according to the specific research categories listed below:
    a. Water Quality Treatment
    b. Water Quantity Control
    c. Maintenance
    d. Cold Climate Performance
    e. Cost (installation and maintenance)
    f. Other

Outreach and Education Efforts
The outreach and education task has been expanded dramatically.

Reports and Publications
Late in the fourth quarter 2007 our second annual report (2007 Annual Report) was written and released to all identified stakeholders. Since the second reports release in early January 2008 over 2,000 copies have been distributed to engineers, stormwater practitioners, and municipal decision makers. The second report represents a much more detailed outreach product complete with a seasonal performance break-down, additional contaminant assessments (TP), and advanced BMP descriptions that provide relevant information for Stormwater Management decision makers at the local and municipal levels. In addition we have one peer reviewed scientific publication, "Storm Water Low-Impact Development, Conventional Structural, and Manufactured Treatment Strategies for Parking Lot Runoff Performance Evaluations Under Varied Mass Loading Conditions," Transportation Research Record v: 1,984 (2007), and a second publication, "Seasonal Performance Variations for Stormwater Management Systems in Cold Climate Conditions," submitted to the Journal of Environmental Engineering-ASCE has been accepted for publication and is in the publication phase.

Technology Demonstration Workshops
At the Center, regular technology demonstration workshops are performed throughout the year. Over 1349 people have attended the 44 workshops over the past 3 years. Workshop participants are wide ranging and include towns, planning and conservation board members, consulting engineers, watershed alliances, state (MA, NH, VT, ME, CT, NY, NJ, RI) and federal DOT, state and federal environmental agencies (MA, NH, VT, ME, CT, NY, NJ, RI), and federal Coastal Training Programs, NEIWPCC, NHEP, MACZM. In addition the Center has hosted multiple agency annual meetings and symposiums including: American Water Works Association- NEWWA, NH Planners Association, New Hampshire Society of Professional Engineers, National Estuarine Research Reserves, and the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). The Piscataqua Regional Estuaries Partnership (PREP formerly NHEP) provides additional support by providing funding for planning board and conservation commission member participation for the 54 towns and municipalities in the NH and ME coastal watershed. Table 1 shows the 4-year participant totals and provides a breakdown of attendees across the range of professional associations. The workshop schedule for 2009 is currently being finalized and will be released publically as of March 6, 2009.

In 2009 UNHSC is partnering with the NH Coastal Training Program to offer 4 Porous Pavement specific workshops. These workshops provide stormwater management professionals with the most up to date characteristics of successful porous pavement applications. This full-day training includes field visits to a variety of in-the-ground porous pavement installations throughout the region. Participants will learn key design principles necessary to successfully evaluate, inspect, specify, maintain, and install porous pavement for stormwater management.

Stormwater Course/Trainings
A Stormwater training course is being developed by the University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center (UNHSC), the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET), and the NOAA Coastal Services Center (CSC). In January 2009 a draft presentation was delivered by UNHSC personnel to selected stakeholders and Training Design phase of the project was developed. The purpose of the training design phase is to transform the developed content into a course training that addresses target audience needs in a manner reflecting adult learning needs and meeting instructional design standards. A three-person core design team has been commissioned with the primary responsibility for final product production. This phase will considered complete when a training is ready to pilot.

UNHSC-NEMO Innovative Stormwater Management Inventory
UNHSC in collaboration with the University of Connecticut NEMO program (Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials) developed an amendable database designed to highlight innovative BMP strategies, such as Low Impact Development (LID) designs, implemented throughout the New England states and region. LID design originated in Maryland in the 1990's to reduce the negative impacts of traditional development on watershed areas and receiving waters. The goal of LID is to limit generation of runoff from developed areas and preserve the natural or predevelopment hydrology of a site. Bioretention areas, rain gardens, gravel wetlands, and pervious pavements are some of the innovative stormwater best management practices (BMPs) that can be designed to mitigate the adverse impacts impervious surfaces. This database consists of an interactive map showing the locations of various BMPs around the state. Clicking on a town will return information from a database about LID practices in that town. A link to a one-page summary report with more detailed information such as the installation date, installer, and engineer, project description, and pictures will also appear. There is also a unique database submission feature that allows users familiar with additional LID installations to add regional examples to the database. In the fall of 2007, Sarah Gross, and AmeriCorps volunteer working with the ME NEMO program took on responsibilities associated with further developing the database. To date there are over 225 projects across the NE states detailed in the database. We hope that these tools can demonstrate real world examples of successful innovative BMP installations throughout the region. Lack of performance data or implementation examples is often the limiting factor of more widespread acceptance and use of innovative stormwater BMPs.
You can visit the database at: http://www.erg.unh.edu/stormwater/index.asp

Conferences and Presentations:
A partial list of presentations given by UNHSC over the report period: can be found on our website at: http://www.unh.edu/erg/cstev/Presentations/index.htm

Other Activities
UNHSC students and staff have been working directly with UNH Video Services on the development of a digital media source that demonstrates all phases associated with designing, constructing, and monitoring of pervious pavements. This particular project includes footage and interviews based around the UNHSC pervious concrete test facility. The final result will be a DVD that will help promote permeable pavements to community officials, developers, engineers, and business owners alike. A webpage with similar information is also in the works.

Partnerships and Collaboration Update
Please see attachment A for detailed information regarding up to date UNHSC collaborations.

Emerging Research Update
Please see section 3 Monitoring, for progress and research on emerging issues. Other activities that are on-going, have been research topics for grant additional grants, or are areas for future considerations include:

• Snow Piles And Melt Runoff: Salt, Sand, Cyanide
• Cyanide Speciation and Toxicity in Meltwater
• Salt Mitigation Strategy: Street Sweeping as Source Control
• Street Sweeping: Quality and Economics
• Alternative Surface Curve Number, Hydrograph Analyses, and Rainfall Frequency Spectrums
• Snow Dump Design Guidelines
• Sediment and Contaminant Fractionation
• Contaminant Accumulation Within Sediments
• Long-Term Infiltration Performance
• Contaminant Loading Functions
• Funding and Grant Development