Bioretention cells have become one of the most popular devices in urban stormwater runoff management for their high efficiency in reducing runoff volume and pollution loads. However, bioretention cells are unstable in nutrient pollutant removal, as is verified by many cases, especially at low temperatures. Dissolved organic matters (DOMs) plays an important role in denitrification, but the three-dimensional fluorescence characteristics of stormwater runoff in bioretention field cells are poorly understood, so to improve the performance of bioretention cells in nutrient pollutants control, the authors determined that it was necessary to clarify the characteristics of three-dimensional fluorescence of stormwater runoff from bioretention cells and explain their relationship to water quality. To be applicable to urban landuse in mountainous cities, two field lined bioretention cells were constructed, and, from March to April in 2017, while temperatures were still low, water quality and three-dimensional fluorescence of stormwater runoff were analyzed during low rainfall intensity precipitation events. Analysis results showed that the effluent pollutant concentrations had low fluctuation after purification by the bioretention cells, and both cells showed relatively stable removal rates for NH4+-N and total phosphorus (TP; i. e., 78.38%-95.03% and 72.04%-76.04%, respectively). Analysis of fluorescence spectra showed that the DOMs in the runoff from the two cells was mostly made up of protein and humic substances, mainly of biological origin or aquatic bacterial metabolites. Both cells performed well in the removal of protein at I, protein at Ⅱ and fulvic acid (i. e., the removal rates could reach 57.33%-61.30%, 29.82%-31.28%, and 35.55%-43.16% respectively). Correlation analyses between water quality and DOM showed that total Nitrogen (TN), TP and total organic carbon (TOC) were positively correlated with the protein content in runoff from the biorentention cells, while NO3--N and NH4+-N were negatively correlated with protein content. Meanwhile, TN was negatively correlated with DOMs in regions Ⅳ and Ⅴ of the cells.
Keywords: bioretention cells; dissolved organic matters (DOMs); rainfall runoff; three-dimensional fluorescence; water quality.