I-Corps: Modular Hybrid Green Infrastructure Technology for Addressing Stormwater Challenges

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛/商业潜力在于，它提供了一种具有成本效益、低影响的混合“绿色”方法来解决雨水径流问题，这是损害我国沃茨的主要原因之一。由于未来人口增长驱动的土地利用和覆盖变化以及与预测的气候变化有关的风暴事件的共同影响，这些径流问题预计将加剧，特别是在城市地区。认识到这些对我们水资源的威胁，以及传统城市水处理成本的增加，导致了对雨水管理的绿色基础设施方法的兴趣。 然而，在其目前的设计中，这些绿色基础设施系统中有许多是被动的：它们拦截水和去除污染物的有效性差异很大。 这里描述的技术将为雨水工程师、开发商、城市管理者和业主提供重要的设计标准，以最大限度地提高绿色基础设施的性能和功能。 因此，这种混合绿色技术的商业化是关键，使其广泛提供给潜在的最终用户，以解决目前和未来的雨水/水资源的挑战。这个I-Corps项目将评估市场潜力和商业化的可行性模块化，混合雨水管理技术，增强绿色基础设施，以最大限度地提高污染物去除效率，并允许水存储。 模块化混合绿色基础设施（MHGI）是一个密封系统，配有专门的管道和阀门组件，可以控制水的保留时间以及地下水位高度的位置，以便拦截的雨水可以保持在土壤基质的深度，以最大限度地提高好氧/厌氧条件，通过植物和微生物处理促进生物修复。雨水储存时间可以控制，系统可以运行，以调整历史或预测径流量的变化。拦截的水也可以储存在系统内，等待通过蒸发蒸腾作用去除，或用于灌溉等再利用目的。 该技术的初步阿尔法测试表明显着的和一致的氮和磷去除效率与88%的硝酸盐和100%的磷酸盐去除观察城市径流，95%的总氮和81%的磷酸盐去除观察化粪池污水，和50%的硝酸盐，71%的铵，和55%的农业径流观察去除。

The broader/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is that it provides a cost-effective, low-impact hybrid 'green' approach for addressing stormwater runoff, one of the leading causes of impairment to our nation's waters. These runoff problems are expected to be exacerbated, particularly in urban areas, as a result of the coupled impacts of future population growth-driven land use and cover changes and storm events associated with projected climate change. Recognition of these threats to our water resources, together with the increasing costs of conventional municipal water treatment, has led to interest in green infrastructure approaches for stormwater management. However, in their current design, many of these green infrastructure systems are passive: their effectiveness for intercepting water and removing pollutants is highly variable. The technology described here will provide stormwater engineers, developers, city managers, and homeowners with important design criteria that will maximize green infrastructure performance and functionality. The commercialization of this hybrid green technology is therefore key for making it widely accessible to potential end-users to address both present and future stormwater/water resource challenges.This I-Corps project will assess the market potential and commercialization feasibility of a modular, hybrid stormwater management technology that augments green infrastructure both to maximize pollutant removal efficiency and allow for water storage. The modular hybrid green infrastructure (MHGI) is a sealed system with a specialized pipe and valve assembly that allows for both the control of water retention times as well as the location of the subsurface water table height, so that intercepted stormwater can be held within the soil matrix at a depth to maximize aerobic/anaerobic conditions that promote bioremediation via plant and microbial processing. Stormwater storage times can be controlled and the system can be made operational to adjust for changes in historical or projected runoff volumes. The intercepted water can also be stored within the system, pending removal by evapotranspiration, or for reuse purposes such as irrigation. Preliminary alpha testing of this technology demonstrated significant and consistent nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies with 88% nitrate and 100% phosphate removal observed for urban runoff, 95% total nitrogen and 81% phosphate removal observed for septic effluent, and 50% nitrate, 71% ammonium, and 55% removal observed for agricultural runoff.