Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Vegetated Treatment Systems for Removing Contaminants Associated with Surface Water Toxicity in Agriculture and Urban Runoff
Published on: May 15, 2017
Urban nonpoint source pollution buildup and washoff models for simulating storm runoff quality in the Los Angeles
Long Wang1, Jiahua Wei, Yuefei Huang
1State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. wanglong08@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn
Abstract:
Many urban nonpoint source pollution models utilize pollutant buildup and washoff functions to simulate storm runoff quality of urban catchments. In this paper, two urban pollutant washoff load models are derived using pollutant buildup and washoff functions. The first model assumes that there is no residual pollutant after a storm event while the second one assumes that there is always residual pollutant after each storm event. The developed models are calibrated and verified with observed data from an urban catchment in the Los Angeles County. The application results show that the developed model with consideration of residual pollutant is more capable of simulating nonpoint source pollution from urban storm runoff than that without consideration of residual pollutant. For the study area, residual pollutant should be considered in pollutant buildup and washoff functions for simulating urban nonpoint source pollution when the total runoff volume is less than 30 mm.
Related Concept Videos
Conservation of Mass in Moving, Nondeforming Control Volume
In the context of a detention basin, the conservation of mass states that the total mass of water entering the basin must equal the mass leaving the basin plus any accumulation of...
Typical Model Studies
Design Example: Analyzing Capacity Contours for Flood Risk Assessment
Modeling and Similitude
Design Example: Creating a Hydraulic Model of a Dam Spillway
Precipitation Processes

