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Show Campus Stormwater Assessment Introduction The main intention of our SCIF project was to test the parameters of stormwater on campus to see whether it is viable for irrigation usage or not. Utah is one of the driest states, but does not heavily promote water conservation, and the University of Utah is not required to pay for total water consumption regardless of it being one of the highest water consumers in the state. The University of Utah has also made water neutrality by 2020 a campus goal. The sustainability resource center defines this as “ That means seeking to use the amount of water that falls annually on campus for our drinking, plumbing and landscaping needs.” O ur main goal is to give campus maintenance departments information on the contents of water. The University of Utah has set a goal to become water neutral and this project is intended to help achieve that goal. Our project parallels another large SCIF project testing the stormwater at Red Butte Creek. Though similar, our project’s intention is to test the stormwater in an urban setting rather than the runoff within Red Butte Creek. The contaminants we tested for were nitrates, heavy metals, phosphorous, suspended solids, and organic compounds. These are referred to as the “big five” and have been analyzed in the ongoing SCIF project at Red Butte Creek. If any of these contaminants exceed EPA standards, then the water cannot be reused for irrigation before going through a filtration system. We chose four strategic locations for our test sites. Each site was at different altitudes on campus in order to test the amount of contaminants the stormwater gathered as it traveled through campus. The first and highest location was the water tanks at the Natural History Museum. The second location was the Lassonde Institute Retainment Pond which is nearly the halfway mark on campus. The third location was a storm drain near the east side of President’s Circle, which was near the bottom of campus. The final test location was a storm tank west of the the Quinney Law Building, which is one of the lowest elevations on campus. Data We received water parameter test kits from ALS Environmental Labs in order to get stormwater samples from our chosen locations. Once a storm system moved in, and with the help of James Staples, we were able to obtain the samples of the stormwater and send them back to ALS Environmental Labs to get tested. Below are the contaminant results from the four locations. *Note that the Actual Values that are in bold are over the regulatory limit.* Natural History Museum Test Site Contaminants Regulatory Limit Actual Value As <10.0 (ug/L) <3.0 (ug/L) Ba <20.0 (ug/L) 59 (ug/L) Cr <10 (ug/L) <3.0 (ug/L) Pb <10 (ug/L) 16 (ug/L) Se <20.0 (ug/L) <6.0 (ug/L) Hg <.10 (ug/L) <.032 (ug/L) P <.50 (mg/L) <.15 (mg/L) Nitrate <.1 (mg/L) <.038 (mg/L) Suspended Solids <50.0 (mg/L) <15 (mg/L) Gasoline Range Organics <50.0 (ug/L) <15 (ug/L) Regulatory Limit Actual Value As <10.0 (ug/L) 7.7 (ug/L) Ba <20.0 (ug/L) 110 (ug/L) Cr <10 (ug/L) 32 (ug/L) Pb <10 (ug/L) 17 (ug/L) Se <20.0 (ug/L) <6.0 (ug/L) Hg <.10 (ug/L) <.032 (ug/L) P <.50 (mg/L) .68 (mg/L) Nitrate <.1 (mg/L) 3.4 (mg/L) Suspended Solids <50.0 (mg/L) 97 (mg/L) Gasoline Range Organics <50.0 (ug/L) <15 (ug/L) Regulatory Limit Actual Value <10.0 (ug/L) 3.7 (ug/L) Lassonde Institute Retainment Pond Test Site Contaminants President's Circle Test Site Contaminants As Ba <20.0 (ug/L) 66 (ug/L) Cr <10 (ug/L) 8.4 (ug/L) Pb <10 (ug/L) 16 (ug/L) Se <20.0 (ug/L) <6.0 (ug/L) Hg <.10 (ug/L) <.032 (ug/L) P <.50 (mg/L) .18 (mg/L) Nitrate <.1 (mg/L) 3.1 (mg/L) Suspended Solids <50.0 (mg/L) 53 (mg/L) Gasoline Range Organics <50.0 (ug/L) <15 (ug/L) Regulatory Limit Actual Value As <10.0 (ug/L) 18 (ug/L) Ba <20.0 (ug/L) 72 (ug/L) Cr <10 (ug/L) 11 (ug/L) Pb <10 (ug/L) 12 (ug/L) Se <20.0 (ug/L) <6.0 (ug/L) Hg <.10 (ug/L) <.032 (ug/L) P <.50 (mg/L) .48 (mg/L) Nitrate <.1 (mg/L) 3.1 (mg/L) Suspended Solids <50.0 (mg/L) 110 (mg/L) Gasoline Range Organics <50.0 (ug/L) <15 (ug/L) Quinney Law Storm TankTest Site Contaminants Analysis The regulatory limits provided by ALS Environmental Labs are based off the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the American Public Health Association (APHA). It is clear that the water at the bottom of campus has higher concentrations of contaminants than the water from the top, as you see Nitrate is above the regulatory limit at all test sites other than the Natural History Museum site. Also note that all of the lead (Pb) and barium (Ba) levels are higher than the regulatory limits. Phosphorus (P) is over the regulatory limit at the Lassonde retainment pond test site, but it should be noted that there was construction at that location that may have caused the differing result. Recommendation According to the data it is apparent that the stormwater on campus is not suitable for immediate irrigation allocation. However, this does not mean the water is completely unusable and mitigation strategies are available. |
