Hydrogen sulfide production in wet stormwater ponds: Study of hydraulics, water quality and microbial community structure

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Stormwater management practices have become increasingly important at the global scale as the population of the Earth continues to increase, urban populations continue to surpass rural populations worldwide and the cities of the world continue to experience climate change. Stormwater management ponds (SWPs), and particularly wet ponds, are commonly used as a best management practice to mitigate the effects of runoff from highly urbanized landscapes. Although these ponds are commonly used throughout Canada, there is a current gap in knowledge with respect to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) production pathways in wet SWPs. The hydraulics of SWPs is known to directly affect the water quality and microbial communities of SWPs. As such, this research will investigate the hydraulics, water quality and microbial community structure of a SWP that currently experiences periods of H2S emission in order to develop a fundamental understanding of H2S production in SWPs in Canada. In particular, the study will compare the hydraulics, microbial community structure and water quality of the SWP to an adjacent reference pond that has not displayed H2S emission problems. This research will be the first comprehensive field study to investigate hydraulics, water quality and biological processes relating to H2S production of wet SWPs. The proposed research moves beyond H2S monitoring of a SWP and presents new knowledge with respect to the concomitant effects of hydraulics, water quality and microbial communities on the development of anoxic conditions in Canadian stormwater ponds and the subsequent production and emission of H2S. Finally the research will modify and evaluate water quality and hydraulic models, with these modified models serving as tools to simulate management strategies to minimize or eliminate H2S emissions in Canadian ponds.