<p> Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in hydrologic ecosystems is a costly environmental problem. Low Impact Development measures, such as bioretention, can help prevent nutrient pollution. Bioretention is a type of green stormwater infrastructure and landscaping feature that collects, stores and treats stormwater runoff. Bioretention media is composed of sand, soil and an organic material such as compost or wood fines. While bioretention in itself is a sustainable practice, there is an ever growing demand for more sustainable solutions to the world's environmental problems. The St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District's Lemay Waste Water Treatment (WWTP) incinerates biosolids, which creates a non-hazardous byproduct referred to as bottom ash. Incinerator bottom ash from the Lemay WWTP is mostly composed of silica and is very similar to sand. So, if incinerator bottom ash from the Lemay WWTP can be used in bioretention media as a substitute for sand, it will make a sustainable stormwater management technique even more sustainable. However, bioretention media with incinerator bottom ash will have to behave as a typical media to be an acceptable substitution. Nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in the effluent from bioretention cells are of particular interest due to the drastic environmental issues associated with nutrient pollution. Therefore, a bioretention column study was performed to observe nutrient pollutant removal efficiency and plant compatibility of bioretention media containing municipal waste incinerator bottom ash. The results of the column study indicate that municipal waste incinerator bottom ash from the Lemay WWTP could be an acceptable substitution for sand in bioretention media.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:1600947 |
| Date | 17 November 2015 |
| Creators | Eichhorst, Jessica |
| Publisher | Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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