Chapter 3 – Fundamental Design

and Runoff Quality Estimation

Zarina Md Ali, Dr Mohd Shalahuddin Adnan and

Dr Siti Nazahiyah Binti Rahmat
Learning Outcomes

01 Design preliminary sizing of stormwater quality

.control facilities

Estimate annual pollutant load based on the event

02 .
mean concentration (EMC),

Discuss the ways in managing the quality of stormwater

03 through Best Management Practices (BMPs).
Outline of Chapter 3
3.3 Estimation of Contamination,
Transport and retention 3.1 Introduction

Chapter
3

3.2 Characteristics, Fundamental Design & Control of

contamination
3.1 Introduction
This chapter provides the fundamental on the non-point source (NPS) pollutants from
typical urban areas, estimation of annual pollutant load based on the event mean
concentration and simplified procedures required for preliminary sizing and designing
stromwater quality control facilities or BMPs. Moreover, a reduction in the average
annual pollutant load will be discussed.

The main topics in this chapter are;

Pollutant Estimation

Pollutant Control

Types and Sizing of BMPs Facilities

3.2 Characteristics, Fundamental Design & Control of contamination
Recommended Runoff Pollutant
TN & TP Gross Pollutant
08 01
Oil & Grease Total Suspended
(O&G) 02 Solid (TSS)
07
Type of
Pollutant Biochemical
Copper, Lead, 03 Oxygen Demand
Zinc 06 (BOD)

05 04 Chemical
Oxygen Demand
E.Coli
(COD)
In current practice, BMPs are designed based on three types of selected pollutant that
potentially generated from various land uses, as shown in table below;

Generation Potentials
Landuse Gross Pollutants TSS Nutrients
(TN & TP)
Roads & Highways Low High Low
Residential High High High
Commercial High Medium Medium
Industrial Medium Medium Medium
Parks & Agriculture Low Medium High
 Water Quality Volume
• The Runoff volumes need to be estimated before carry out any assessment of pollutant load.
• Runoff volumes is expressed as rainfall depth multiplied by the catchment area and volumetric
runoff coefficient.
• Runoff estimation is necessary and will be used in sizing the BMPs or design outlet structure of
BMPs.
• The required water quality volume (WQV) can be calculated by using following equation;
𝑊𝑄𝑉 = 𝐶 v Pd A
Where;
Cv = area-weighted volumetric runoff coefficient
Pd = Rainfall depth (m)
A = Drainage Area (m2)
In general, value of Cv will be less that RM runoff coefficient, C for large ARI (>2 years) and Cv will
be greater that RM runoff coefficient, C for small ARI . However, for the simplicity the value of Cv
can be considered same as C.
 Load Estimation
• Sustainable pollutant loads are based on the magnitude of pollutant exports and the reduction
in pollutant loads.
• Land activities and practices in a catchment will accumulate pollutant loads as a result of
stormwater wash off.
• Estimate runoff pollutant using EMC method (simplest and widest used method). The
reliability the of the final results depends on the accuracy of the EMC value for intended
parameters and land uses.
• The load estimated by EMC method is
L = R * EMC * A. Cv/100
where;
EMC = Event mean concentration (mg/L)
L = Annual pollutant load (kg/year)
R = Mean annual rainfall (mm/year)
A = Catchment area (ha) and,
Cv = area weighted volumetric runoff coefficient
 Load Estimation

Recommended mean EMC

values for various pollutants and
landuses are shown in Table 3.2
Example 3.1
Determine the annual pollution
loading (in tonne/year) generated
from a 753.28 ha mixed
development area located in
upstream of Sg. Buloh catchment as
shown in Figure 3.A1. The mean
annual rainfall for the catchment is
2850 mm.
Example 3.1
Please refer to the excel file name Example 3.1 for the solution

Runoff EMC Annual Runoff Annual Loading

Landuse Area (ha) Pollutant
Coefficient, Cv (mg/L) (mm) (kg/year) (tonne/year)
TSS 128 1299073.2 1299.073229
Residential 468.56 0.76 TN 0.34 2166 3450.6633 3.450663264
TP 4.21 42727.33 42.72733042
TSS 166 971439.89 971.439885
Industry 228.15 0.9 TN 0.49 2565 2867.5033 2.867503275
TP 5 29260.238 29.2602375
TSS 122 81925.074 81.925074
Commercial 26.18 0.9 TN 0.32 2565 214.88544 0.21488544
TP 4.84 3250.1423 3.25014228
TSS 80 65824.74 65.82474
Roads & Highways 30.39 0.95 TN 0.16 2707.5 131.64948 0.13164948
TP 2.25 1851.3208 1.851320813
Pollutant Control
• Stormwater pollutant can be particulates, dissolved substances and floatables
(litters and hydrocarbons).

• Physicochemical nature of each group of pollutants is different. Therefore,

mechanism to remove them from the water is also different.
a. Particulate Pollutants

• Particulates are the primary pollutants found in stromwater and can be removed
through sedimentation and filtration.
• Sedimentation occurs when particles have a greater density than surrounding liquid.
• The Newton’s and Stoke’s laws are often used to quantify the sedimentation process.
• Particulates can also be removed by filtration through use of infiltration facilities.
Media will be used to increase the efficiency of the pollutant filtration process. Many
studies were conducted by using several types of media to examine the efficiency of
particle removal.
b. Dissolved Pollutants
• Dissolved pollutants (DP) area mainly removed through adsorption, microbial fixation,
biochemical degradation and plant uptake (phytoremediation).
• Soil or plant-based media is required to remove the dissolved pollutants (Metals, TN, TP, BOD,
COD, pesticides, herbicides, etc).
• Two most common BMPs used to remove DP from stormwater are wetlands and bioretention
facilities.
a. Wetland support various types of microphytes and macrophytes that either absorb and
adsorb DP.

b. Bioretention (BR) facilities is mainly done by media and plant

uptakes. Due to dry nature of BR system, number of
microbial aquatic organism (algae) will be less which
important in removing micronutrient of low concentrations.
c. Floatable Pollutants
• Floatable Pollutants (FP) in storm runoff can be in the form of litters (refuse or trash) or oil &
grease (floating hydrocarbon).
• The litters are floating or submerged particles large particles large enough to be removed by
screen, trash rack, nets and other mechanical devices.
• Captured floatable pollutants should be removed from the gross pollutant trap at the soonest
possible time before block or clog the drainage system.
3.3 Estimation of Contamination, Transport and retention - BMPs Facilities
The selection of BMPs based on-site specific conditions and the overall management objectives
of the catchment. The selection process has the following aspects;
Identification of
Familiarism with 01 problems and
constraints on use treatment
of various objectieves
treatment devices

Selection Familiarism with

04 process 02
capabilities of the
alternative
treatment devices
Cost considerations and treatment
mechanism
03
BMPs Facilities – Infiltration Facilities

• Infiltration devices can take a number of structural forms including pits, trenches or basin.

• All these devices work by storing stormwater flow and promoting infiltration into the soil.
They are primarily for removing soluble and fine materials from stormwater.
BMPs Facilities – Bioretention Facilities

• This devise use a filtering action to remove pollutants

mainly particulate material. Two types of filtration are use:
(i) Biofiltration (using biological methods)
(ii) Media Filtration (porous media such as sand)

• Bioretention facilities are good for abstracting nutrients

and fine colloidal particles, which are difficult to be
retained in sediment basins and water quality ponds.
BMPs Facilities – Gross Pollutant Trap
• Gross Pollutant Traps (GPT) remove floating and submerged gross litter, hydrocarbon and coarse
solids.
• They either can be built in-situ and pre-fabricated and help to improve the visual quality of the
storm runoff.
• This device needs frequent maintenance to meet the designed efficiency.
• Choked GPTs in the drains may cause nuisance flooding.
BMPs Facilities – Swale
• Swale are vegetated drains that be used to convey and filter runoff. Used to improve pollutant
removal from the storm runoff through biological process.
• Swale typically has better aesthetic value and cheaper than structural controls, however,
required more maintenance and land take.
BMPs Facilities – Water Quality Pond and Wetland
• Water Quality Ponds used to control the volume of runoff and providing
treatment by gravity settling, biological stabilization of soluble pollutant
such as nutrients, and adsorption and decomposition of biodegradable
pollutant such as BOD and light oils.
• The function of wetland is similar to ponds except the areas of active
vegetation growth are the main component of wetlands instead of open
water. This promotes biological action in preference to sedimentation.
• In practice, it is convenient to consider two types together.

Wetland
Treatment Objectives
• The primary objective of treatment BMPs I to remove total suspended solids and
sediment-bound compounds.
• Removal of TSS will result in removal of many contaminants of concern, including:

Particulate trace metals

Particulate nutrients

Oil ad grease on solids

BMPs Facilities – Selection of Facilities
The permanent facilities such of infiltration basin, swale, GPT, bioretention facilities, WQP and
wetland are to be provided to take care of the runoff laden pollutants generated from the
developed areas. Table shows the selection of BMPs for various pollutant.
BMPs Type Pollutant Removal Efficiency Other Factors
Gross TSS Nutrient Maintenance Land Treatable Cost
pollutant (TN & TP) required Catchment
area
Infiltration Low High High Medium High Medium Low
Bioretention Low High High Low Medium Medium Medium
Swale Low Medium Medium Low Low Low Low
GPT High Low No Medium Medium Medium Medium
WQP Medium Medium Medium Medium High High High
Wetlands Medium High High High Medium High High
3.4 BMPs Facilities – Selection of Facilities
The definitions of low, medium and high capture or treatment target for each of the BMPs for
TSS and nutrients is given in table below.

Target of Treatment
Pollutant
Low Medium High

TSS Less than 40 % of 40 - 70% of particles More than 70% of

particles greater than greater than 0.125 mm particles greater than
0.125 mm retained. retained 0.125 mm retained.
Nutrients (TN & TP) Less than 10% reduction 10 - 40% reduction More than 40%
reduction
3.4 BMPs Facilities – Selection of Facilities
Suitability of BMPs also depends on the type and size of the development and its associated
land use. Table below provides suitability of BMPs for various land use.

Development type/landuse Bioretention Swale Wetlands WQP Infiltration GPT

New roads and Highways
- On slope less than 4% High High High High High High
- On slope greater than 4% Medium Medium Medium Medium Medium Medium
Old roads and Highways
- On slope less than 4% High Medium High High Medium High
- On slope greater than 4% Medium Low High Medium Low High
New residential/ commercial / High High High High High High
Industrial Development

Old residential/ commercial / Medium Low Low Medium High High

Industrial Development
 3.4 BMPs Facilities – Selection of Facilities

This table will be

referred as a
treatment application
guide in determining
the selection of BMPs
facilities.
3.5 BMPs Facilities – Sizing
• Removal curves will be used to estimate preliminary size of BMPs. This curve only used for
swale, WQP and wetland application ONLY.

• This results will be used for the purpose of planning submission to a regulatory local authority
for initial assessment.

• Local regulatory will utilized the preliminary design outcomes to assess the submission based
on the methodology proposed. However, the final design of treatment sizing or efficiency need
to be redesign and recalculate once the got the approval from the local authority.

• The preliminary BMPs sizing procedure is given in the next slide.

 3.5 BMPs Facilities – Sizing Procedure
STEP 4
• Based on BMPs area, find the pollutant target
from the chart. Get the value of catchment
impervious area ratio in % (Figure 3.1).
• Estimate BMPs area = Catchment impervious STEP 5
area ratio * estimated impervious area (ha)
/100. • Choose layout plan
and guideline
drawing.
STEP 2 • Then collate the
Choose BMPs that results and submit
suited the NPS and the information to
landuse the local regulatory
authorities for initial
approval.
STEP 1
Identify the main Non-
Point Sources (NPS)
Pollutant STEP 3
Level of treatment
and reduction target.
Example 3.2
Estimate the preliminary size of a water
quality pond required to reduce the TSS,
TN & TP by 80%, 35% and 40%,
respectively from the residential area
(114.54 ha). The average runoff
coefficient of the area is 0.55, which was
calculated based on the actual
impervious of the mixed development
residential area (e.g. bungalow, link
house and open spaces).
Example 3.2
Please refer to the excel file name Example 3.2 for the solution

Preliminary pond area must be on the

maximum area based on step 3 which area

Therefore, the water

quality pond area area = 3.12 ha
Example 3.3
Estimate the preliminary size of a BMPs
treatment train using swale, wetlands and
WQP shown in figure, to reduce TSS by 80%
from a residential sub-catchment, with an
area of 14.46 ha. The average contributing
impervious of the residential area is 75%.
 Example 3.3

Please refer to the excel file name Example 3.3 for the solution

Summary of the flow the estimated BMPs sizes are as follows

Swale = 325.35 m2
Wetland = 100 m2 and 117 m2
WQP = 195.21 m2
BMPs Facilities – Sizing Procedure
BMPs Facilities – Sizing Procedure
BMPs Facilities – Sizing Procedure