Performance and Design Development for Compost technology used in Green Infrastructure, Green Building, and Urban Storm Water Applications

Green builders and designers, urban planners, engineers and architects, and watershed manager working with green infrastructure, low impact development (LID), storm water management, water quality improvement, total maximum daily load (TMDL) designated stream segments, and carbon footprint reduction programs need more high performance, cost-effective, green technologies to design and implement in their plans and projects. This project seeks to evaluate the capacity and longevity of compost filter socks (FS) and natural additives to the FS used for particulate and soluble pollutant filtration of storm water pollutants that negatively affect surface water of the United States. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved this technology as a best management practice (BMP) for controlling sediment from storm water on construction sites under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Phase II National Menu of BMPs program, but has not approved it for post-construction storm water management applications. The objectives of this study are to: i) determine the efficiency and capacity of FS and FS + natural additives to remove phosphorous (P), nitrogen (N), coliform bacteria, and petroleum hydrocarbons from urban storm water runoff; ii) determine the functional longevity and maintenance schedules for this technology based on the results from i. Experiments will be conducted at the Environmental Management and Byproduct Utilization Laboratory at the USDA Agricultural Research Services (ARS) in Beltsville, MD. Separate, cumulative, simulated runoff events with typical concentrations of total P, soluble P, total N, ammonium-N, Nitrate-N, total coliform, E. coli., motor oil, and diesel fuel found in urban storm water runoff will be exposed to treatments until removal efficiency to no longer significant. Results will be used to determine real world functional longevity and maintenance schedules for this technology for post-construction storm water management systems can be appropriately designed and maintained for optimum environmental performance. This technology will fine commercial application with green building programs, such as LEED, Audubon Society, and Earthcraft House; with green infrastructure and LID design projects; TMDL, NPDES MS4 and industrial storm water permit holders, storm water pollution prevention plan (SWPPP) designers, and future effluent limit guideline (ELG) compliant land owners; and projects and designers interested in bio-based, recycled, bioregion manufactured and distributed, and/or carbon footprint reduction technologies.