Conventional and amended bioretention soil media for targeted pollutant treatment: a critical review to guide the state of the practice
Abstract
Bioretention systems are widely used green infrastructure elements that utilize engineered bioretention soil media (BSM) for stormwater capture and treatment. Conventional bioretention soil media, which typically consists of sand, sandy loam, loamy sand or topsoil amended with compost, has limited capacity to remove and may leach some stormwater pollutants. Alternative engineered amendments, both organic and inorganic, have been tested to supplement BSM. Yet, municipalities and regulatory agencies have been slow to adopt these alternative amendments into their design specifications, partly because of a lack of clear guidance on how to select the right amendment to treat a target stormwater contaminant under highly variable climatic conditions. This article aims to provide that guidance by: (1) summarizing the current design BSM specifications adopted by jurisdictions worldwide, (2) comparing the performance of conventional and amended BSM, (3) highlighting advantages and limitations of BSM amendments, and (4) identifying challenges for implementing amendments in field conditions. The analysis not only informs the research community of the barriers faced by stormwater managers in implementing BSM amendments but also provides guidelines for their adoption by interested agencies to comply with existing regulations and meet design needs. This feedback loop could catalyze further innovation in the development of sustainable stormwater treatment technologies.
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Replacing media with sand can increase pore size and hydraulic conductivity.
“replacing media with sand can increase pore size and hydraulic conductivity (Tirpak et al., 2021)”
From Review of emerging contaminants in green stormwater infrastructure: antibiotic resistance genes, microplastics, tire wear particles, PFAS, and temperature (2024) · cites this paper as Tirpak et al., 2021
Replacing media with sand can decrease the clogging potential of the soil with microplastics.
“and decrease the clogging potential of the soil with microplastics.”
From Review of emerging contaminants in green stormwater infrastructure: antibiotic resistance genes, microplastics, tire wear particles, PFAS, and temperature (2024) · cites this paper as Tirpak et al., 2021
Sand amendment can promote smaller sized microplastics infiltrating deeper into GSI.
“This alteration can promote smaller sized microplastics infiltrating deeper into GSI”
From Review of emerging contaminants in green stormwater infrastructure: antibiotic resistance genes, microplastics, tire wear particles, PFAS, and temperature (2024) · cites this paper as Tirpak et al., 2021
Sand amendment can prevent settling on the surface that may lead to washout and resuspension.
“and prevent settling on the surface that may lead to washout and resuspension (Tirpak et al., 2021).”
From Review of emerging contaminants in green stormwater infrastructure: antibiotic resistance genes, microplastics, tire wear particles, PFAS, and temperature (2024) · cites this paper as Tirpak et al., 2021
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Bodus, B., O'Malley, K., Dieter, G., Gunawardana, C., & McDonald, W. (2024) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167195 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
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Beryani, A., Furén, R., Österlund, H., Tirpak, A., Smith, J., Dorsey, J., Winston, R. J., Viklander, M., & Blecken, G.-T. (2024) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.4c05170 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Self-citationBorthakur, A., Das, T. K., Zhang, Y., Libbert, S., Prehn, S., Ramos, P., Dooley, G., Blotevogel, J., Mahendra, S., & Mohanty, S. K. (2022) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134244 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Tirpak, R. A., Afrooz, A. N., Winston, R. J., Valenca, R., Schiff, K., & Mohanty, S. K.
- Venue
- Water Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-02
- Volume
- 189
- Pages
- 116648
- ISSN
- 0043-1354
- Cited by
- 183
- References
- 7
- Language
- en
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