Quality and first flush analysis of stormwater runoff from a tropical commercial catchment

Abstract

This paper examines the storm runoff quality from a commercial area in south Johor, Malaysia. Six storm events with a total of 68 storm runoff samples were analyzed. Event Mean Concentration (EMC) for all constituents analysed showed large inter-event variation. Site mean concentrations (SMC) for total suspended solids (TSS), oil and grease (O&G), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N), nitrite-nitrogen (NO2-N), ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N), total phosphorus (Total P) and Soluble P are 261, 4.31, 74, 192, 1.5, 0.006, 1.9, 1.12 and 0.38 mg/L, respectively. The SMCs at the studied site are higher than those reported in many urban catchments. The mean baseflow concentrations were higher than the EMCs for COD, Soluble P, NH3-N, NO3-N, Total P and NO2-N. However, the reverse was observed for TSS and O&G. All pollutants showed the occurrence of first flush phenomenon with the highest strength was observed for TSS, COD and NH3-N.