Publication:
Bioretention: Evaluating their Effectiveness for Improving Water Quality in New England Urban Environments

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorJack Ahern
dc.contributor.authorDehais, Mary
dc.contributor.departmentUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst
dc.contributor.departmentLandscape Architecture
dc.date2023-09-23T03:38:46.000
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-26T21:12:20Z
dc.date.available2011-04-15T00:00:00Z
dc.date.issued2011-01-01
dc.date.submittedMay
dc.description.abstractNonpoint source (NPS) pollution is one of the leading causes of water quality problems in the United States. Bioretention has become one of the more frequently used stormwater management practices for addressing NPS pollution in urbanized watersheds in New England. Yet despite increased acceptance, bioretention is not widely practiced. This study explores and evaluates the efficacy of bioretention for protecting urban water quality. This research found that numerous monitoring methods are used by researchers and industry experts to assess the effectiveness of stormwater best management practices (BMPs) and low impact development (LID) practices that include bioretention. The two most common methods for analyzing and evaluating water quality data are pollutant removal efficiency and effluent quality. While effluent quality data is useful for characterizing classes of BMP treatment performance on a statistical basis, pollutant removal efficiency is more representative of the actual pollutant load being reduced by the stormwater treatment practice over time, and is used in Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) assessments. However, despite this difference, monitoring is still arguably the best method for determining the effectiveness of stormwater treatment practices. Monitoring of bioretention performance results is needed to inform improvements to design standards and guidance to aid state and local municipalities in the proper selection of bioretention/stormwater controls. This study advocates for instituting fine-scale, “safe-to-fail” design experiments as part of an adaptive management process that is used to advance bioretention design guidance and future applications of monitoring practice(s) that target reduction of pollutants in downstream receiving waterbodies. This innovative approach could result in increased use of bioretention in New England urban environments.
dc.description.degreeMaster of Landscape Architecture (M.L.A.)
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.7275/1942136
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/47495
dc.relation.urlhttps://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1713&context=theses&unstamped=1
dc.source.statuspublished
dc.subjectBioretention
dc.subjectGreen Infrastructure
dc.subjectLow Impact Development
dc.subjectStormwater Management
dc.subjectBMP Performance Monitoring
dc.subjectPollutant Removal Performance
dc.subjectMonitoring Methods and Models
dc.subjectCivil and Environmental Engineering
dc.subjectEnvironmental Design
dc.subjectEnvironmental Sciences
dc.subjectForest Management
dc.subjectHydrology
dc.subjectLandscape Architecture
dc.subjectLand Use Law
dc.subjectSoil Science
dc.subjectUrban, Community and Regional Planning
dc.titleBioretention: Evaluating their Effectiveness for Improving Water Quality in New England Urban Environments
dc.typeopen
dc.typearticle
dc.typethesis
digcom.contributor.authorisAuthorOfPublication|email:mdehais@larp.umass.edu|institution:University of Massachusetts Amherst|Dehais, Mary
digcom.date.embargo2011-04-15T00:00:00-07:00
digcom.identifiertheses/595
digcom.identifier.contextkey1942136
digcom.identifier.submissionpaththeses/595
dspace.entity.typePublication
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
MDEHAIS_FINAL_THESIS_060311.pdf
Size:
8.38 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Name: MDEHAIS_FINAL_THESIS_060311.pdf
Size: 8.38 MB
Kind: Adobe PDF
Collections
Masters Theses