Curbing sediment: The effects of added surface roughness in the curb and gutter as a novel pretreatment for green infrastructure stormwater control measures

Alec G Grimm; Avee Oabel; Halina Steiner; Ryan J Winston

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118370

Curbing sediment: The effects of added surface roughness in the curb and gutter as a novel pretreatment for green infrastructure stormwater control measures

J Environ Manage. 2023 Oct 15:344:118370. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118370. Epub 2023 Jun 19.

Authors

Alec G Grimm¹, Avee Oabel², Halina Steiner², Ryan J Winston³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering, The Ohio State University, 590 Woody Hayes Dr., Columbus, OH, 43210, USA. Electronic address: grimm.241@osu.edu.
² Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture, The Ohio State University, USA.
³ Department of Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering, The Ohio State University, 590 Woody Hayes Dr., Columbus, OH, 43210, USA; Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering, The Ohio State University, USA.

PMID: 37343472
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118370

Abstract

Stormwater control measures (SCMs) are employed to reduce the multitude of deleterious impacts of urban runoff on receiving waters. Sediment accumulation in infiltration-based SCMs can clog these systems, resulting in lack of hydraulic function and reduced stormwater treatment efficacy. As such, pretreatment devices, such as forebays, filter strips, or catch basin sumps, are typically employed upstream of SCMs to remove sediment and prolong maintenance intervals. However, the tendency of SCMs to be retrofitted into space-constrained, ultra-urban areas makes including pretreatment technologies difficult. An alternative pretreatment device for green infrastructure SCMs was developed and tested in the laboratory; alterations were made to the standard curb and gutter, which is ubiquitous within urban environments, to increase the roughness of these surfaces. Roughness was added to the curb and/or gutter of mock road sections constructed of expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam using a computer numerical control (CNC) router. Twenty-one patterns with varying degrees of depth, shape, and spacing were implemented to trap sediment from simulated runoff; samples were collected upstream and downstream of the added roughness and analyzed for sediment removal and particle capture. Patterns which included added roughness in both the curb and gutter reduced total suspended solids (TSS) concentrations by up to 95% (median 85%) and reduced median d₅₀ and d₉₀ in runoff from 46.9 to 39.4 μm and 322 to 100 μm, respectively. Continued TSS removal was observed during repeated testing designed to simulate up to seven runoff events, indicating the potential for sustained sediment accumulation before the need for maintenance via regular street sweeping. With routine maintenance performed at appropriate intervals, these findings indicate that added roughness to curb and gutters could be utilized as a viable pretreatment technology for green infrastructure SCMs.

Keywords: Curb and gutter; Green infrastructure; Operation and maintenance; Roughness; Total suspended solids; Urban stormwater.

MeSH terms

Environmental Monitoring* / methods
Rain
Water Movements
Water Purification* / methods
Water Supply