Influent Pollutant Concentrations as Predictors of Effluent Pollutant Concentrations for Mid-Atlantic Bioretention

The water quality performance of best management practices (BMPs) has been frequently assessed by the removal efficiency metric. Recent findings show that the removal efficiency metric is flawed because it does not account for background water quality, eco-region differentiation, and background, or “irreducible,” concentrations. Additionally, the removal efficiency metric inherently assumes a definite association exists between influent and effluent pollutant concentrations. Such a relationship between influent and effluent concentrations has been minimally studied for bioretention, the most common storm-water control measure associated with low-impact development (LID). This study analyzes influent and effluent total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TP) concentrations from 11 bioretention cells in the mid-Atlantic United States. Pooled data showed only a slight association between influent and effluent TN. Essentially no relationship exists between influent and effluent TP concentration. Both finding...

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