Field performance of two biofiltration systems treating micropollutants from road runoff
Open accessAbstract
The treatment efficiency of a vegetative filter strip and a biofiltration swale treating heavily loaded road runoff are evaluated. Concentrations measured in water drained from the two systems are compared to those in untreated road runoff collected from a reference catchment for a wide range of contaminants including organic carbon, nutrients (N and P), trace metals, and organic micropollutants (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), alkylphenols, bisphenol-A, phthalates), in both total and dissolved phases. Predominantly particulate pollutants, including Pb, Zn and PAH, were very efficiently removed (around 90%) for most events. However, poor particulate removal was observed during a winter period. Relatively few pollutants were significantly removed in the dissolved phase and observed concentration reductions tended to be lower than those of suspended solids and associated pollutants; as such, lower removals were observed for total concentrations of moderately particulate micropollutants, including bisphenol-A, alkylphenols and phthalates. In addition, some pollutants appear to be emitted from various biofilter components (filter media, drainage and lining materials), as low or negative concentration removals were observed during the first months of operation of the biofiltration swale.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Field studies have demonstrated that stormwater biofilters effectively remove many inorganic and mainly hydrophobic organic micropollutants.
“Several field studies have demonstrated that stormwater biofilters effectively remove many inorganic and (mainly hydrophobic) OMPs”
From Occurrence, Concentration, and Distribution of 35 PFASs and Their Precursors Retained in 20 Stormwater Biofilters (2024) · cites this paper as [22]
Stormwater biofilters can efficiently remove hydrophobic and particulate OMPs such as PCBs, PAHs, and PHCs as well as suspended solids and particulate metals.
“Therefore, stormwater biofilters can efficiently remove hydrophobic and particulate OMPs such as PCBs, PAHs, and PHCs as well as suspended solids (SS) and particulate metals (e.g., Beryani et al., 2023; David et al., 2015; Flanagan et al., 2018; Furén et al., 2022).”
From Critical field evaluations of biochar-amended stormwater biofilters for PFAS and other organic micropollutant removals (2025) · cites this paper as Flanagan et al., 2018
Heavier fractions of PAHs, PHCs, PCBs, and phthalates are already efficiently removed by vegetated sand biofilters.
“which are already efficiently removed by vegetated sand biofilters”
From Critical field evaluations of biochar-amended stormwater biofilters for PFAS and other organic micropollutant removals (2025) · cites this paper as Flanagan et al., 2018
DEHP was detected in 23 studies and had a highest concentration of 130 μg/L observed in Flanagan et al. (2018).
“DEHP, the most common plasticizer, has been detected in numerous studies (23 studiesrefer to SI Tab 3 and Tab 2), has its highest concentration of 130 μg/L observed in Flanagan et al. (2018).”
From Review of trace organic chemicals in urban stormwater: Concentrations, distributions, risks, and drivers (2024) · cites this paper as Flanagan et al., 2018
Bisphenol A had a 95th percentile concentration of 2.43 μg/L and a maximum concentration of 12.7 μg/L.
“Its 95th percentile concentration was 2.43 μg/L, with maximum value (12.7 μg/L) found in (Kalmykova et al., 2013;Flanagan et al., 2018).”
From Review of trace organic chemicals in urban stormwater: Concentrations, distributions, risks, and drivers (2024) · cites this paper as Flanagan et al., 2018
Nature-based solutions involving percolation through vegetated soil or substrate show promising results for treating the particulate phase, but several authors have underlined a more limited efficiency for dissolved pollutants, which might be linked to colloidal transport or complexation with DOC and can be worsened by winter salt application.
“Nature-based solutions (NBS) involving percolation through a vegetated soil or substrate show promising results for the treatment of the particulate phase [10,57]; however, several authors have underlined a more limited efficiency of dissolved pollutants [10,58], which might be linked to colloidal transport or complexation with DOC [55,59] and can be worsened by winter salt”
From Micropollutants in Urban Runoff from Traffic Areas: Target and Non-Target Screening on Four Contrasted Sites (2022) · cites this paper as [10]
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 49 · Cited by 92
- Authors
- Flanagan, K., Branchu, P., Boudahmane, L., Caupos, E., Demare, D., Deshayes, S., Dubois, P., Meffray, L., Partibane, C., Saad, M., & Gromaire, M.-C.
- Affiliations
- École nationale des ponts et chaussées (FR)
- Centre d'Études et d'Expertise sur les Risques, l'Environnement, la Mobilité et l'Aménagement (FR)
- Nantes Université (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Flanagan, Kelsey
- Venue
- Water Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-11
- Volume
- 145
- Pages
- 562-578
- ISSN
- 0043-1354 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2888951958
- Cited by
- 92
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 4.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- enpc.hal.science
- Licence
- Locations
- Water Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Roulépur research program
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Urban Stormwater Management Solutions
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Wastewater Treatment and Reuse
- Keywords
- biofiltration, vegetative filter strips, road runoff, micropollutants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, total petroleum hydrocarbons, alkylphenols, bisphenol A, phthalates, trace metals, nutrient removal, particulate matter removal, winter performance, stormwater treatment
- MeSH terms
- Environmental Pollutants, Petroleum, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Trace Elements, Water Pollutants, Chemical
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
