Performance Assessment of Underground Stormwater Treatment Devices

The objectives of this research were threefold: to investigate the feasibility and practicality of field testing to assess the performance of underground devices used for stormwater treatment in urban areas; evaluate the effects of sediment size and stormwater flow rate on the performance of four different manufactured devices; and to develop a universal approach for predicting the performance of a device for any given application. Field testing that used a controlled and reproducible synthetic storm event that contained sediment of a fixed size distribution and concentration fed to pre-cleaned devices led to the development of uniform performance models. The results of this project show that controlled field tests are a practical, robust and accurate means of determining an underground device's performance, based on solid size distribution and density of the influent, in addition to water discharge and temperature. This premise was successfully verified in field tests on four devices and in laboratory tests on two devices. The resulting protocol and results of testing will be a useful tool for consultants, manufacturers, local governments, and state agencies for selecting, sizing, and evaluating stormwater treatment technologies to protect water resources.