Comparison of urban residential storm water runoff quality in Bucharest, Romania with international data

Abstract

Diffuse pollution is a major source of contaminants to surface waters in urban areas. Land use activities and the degree of imperviousness have a strong influence on the pollutant loadings and the pattern and distribution of the pollutograph. Uncontrolled discharges of contaminated urban storm water runoff contribute to impairments of water quality in receiving waters. In this study, grab samples of storm water runoff were collected from a small high-density residential catchment area in Bucharest. The pollutant concentrations were analysed for several water quality physical and chemical parameters including pH, conductivity, oil and grease, nutrients, pathogen indicator bacteria and some heavy metals. The storm events were monitored through grab sampling. The sample results for this representative residential catchment area in Bucharest were then compared with data reported from other regions of the world. The analysis demonstrates that the characteristics of the urban runoff quality from residential areas in Bucharest were comparable with data obtained from other areas in the world.