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Updated: Jul 9, 2026

Vegetated Treatment Systems for Removing Contaminants Associated with Surface Water Toxicity in Agriculture and Urban Runoff
Published on: May 15, 2017
The influence of temperature on nutrient treatment efficiency in stormwater biofilter systems
G-T Blecken1, Y Zinger, T M Muthanna
1Urban Water, Department of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden. godecke.blecken@ltu.se
Abstract:
Nutrients can cause eutrophication of natural water bodies. Thus, urban stormwater which is an important nutrient source in urbanised areas has to be treated in order to reduce its nutrient loads. Biofilters which use soil filter media, biofilms and plants, are a good treatment option for nutrients. This paper presents the results of a biofilter column study in cold temperatures (+2 degrees C, +8 degrees C, control at +20 degrees C) which may cause special problems regarding biofilter performance. It was shown that particle-bound pollutants as TSS and a high fraction of phosphorus were reduced well without being negatively influenced by cold temperatures. Nitrogen, however, was not reduced; especially NO(x) was produced in the columns. This behaviour can be explained with both insufficient denitrification and high leaching from the columns.
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