Nationwide Urban Runoff Project, Champaign, Illinois: Assessment of the Impact of Urban Storm Runoff on an Agricultural Receiving Stream

Bender, G. Michael; Noel, Douglas C.; Terstriep, Michael L.

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/73132 Copy

Description

Title

Nationwide Urban Runoff Project, Champaign, Illinois: Assessment of the Impact of Urban Storm Runoff on an Agricultural Receiving Stream

Author(s)

• Bender, G. Michael
• Noel, Douglas C.
• Terstriep, Michael L.

Issue Date

1983

Keyword(s)

• pollution
• urban stormwater

Abstract

From September 1981 through March 1983 an extension of the USEPA-NURP project in Champaign, Illinois was carried out by the Illinois State Water Survey for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. The purpose of the project extension was to evaluate the impact of urban runoff from Boneyard Creek on its receiving stream, the Saline Branch. Instruments for monitoring rainfall and runoff quantity and quality were installed at five sites, two on the urban stream and three on the receiving stream. Runoff data were collected for 31 storm events, a 22-day period of snowmelt, and 13 days of dry weather flows. A total of 1400 water samples were analyzed for 14800 constituent determinations, including solids, metals, and nutrients. Event mean concentrations and washoff loads of the sampled constituents were calculated for all events at each site. Additional data collection for the receiving stream included measurements of sediment oxygen demand, particle size distribution and constituent concentration of sediments, 24-hour diurnal dissolved oxygen, fish and macroinvertebrate populations, and habitat. Analysis of the runoff data indicated that the primary impact of urban runoff on the receiving stream is the 80-90 percent probability of elevation of stream concentrations of lead, copper, and iron above general use standards. Significant contributions of total suspended solids, phosphorus, ammonia-nitrogen, Kjeldahl nitrogen, and COD are also made to the receiving stream by the urban area. The metals which exceed standards are strongly associated with suspended solids, and the excursions above standards are of short duration. Effluent from the sewage treatment plant in the community has greater influence than urban runoff does on levels of phosphorus and ammonia-nitrogen in the receiving stream. The major long-term impacts of urban runoff on the receiving stream may actually be related more to physical effects of surging runoff flows flushing the stream and chemical effects of urban solids settling out and accumulating in the stream than to the temporary elevations of stream concentrations of urban pollutants.

Publisher

Illinois State Water Survey

Series/Report Name or Number

ISWS Contract Report CR 319

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/73132

Copyright and License Information

Copyright ... University of Illinois Board of Trustees. All rights reserved. This document is a product of the Illinois State Water Survey, and has been selected and made available by the Illinois State Water Survey and the University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It is intended for research and educational use, and proper attribution is requested.

Owning Collections