Of Interest...

Monitoring The Effectiveness Of Rain Gardens, Pervious Pavers, And Bioswales.

1/9/2012 -- Low-impact development (LID) is an approach to manage storm water as near to its source as possible by minimizing impervious surfaces and promoting the natural movement of water. Two newly constructed low-impact development sites in northeastern Ohio were monitored to document their hydraulic characteristics. One site consisted of replacing roadside ditches with a rain garden/bioswale combination to reduce flooding; the other site consisted of a rain garden and pervious pavers to reduce and delay runoff from a newly constructed building and parking lot. Rain gages, crest-stage gages, and sensors measured rainfall, water levels, and runoff. Results are described in a new report and indicate that low-impact development can be a useful approach to managing stormwater at these sites. The results will be used in conjunction with water-quality data collected by the Chagrin River Watershed Partners, Inc., to better define the performance of bioswales, pervious pavers, and rain gardens.

Ottawa, Ohio, Now More Prepared For Floods.

12/1/2011 --Data from streamgages and flood-inundation maps serve as a flood warning that emergency management personnel use along with National Weather Service flood-forecast data to determine a course of action when flooding is imminent. New digital flood-inundation maps of the Blanchard River in Ottawa, Putnam County, Ohio, are available in a new report and will be part of a forthcoming Web-based flood-warning network. Maps of the Village of Ottawa showing flood-inundation areas are presented for 12 flood stages with corresponding streamflows ranging from less than the 2-year and up to nearly the 500-year recurrence-interval flood. As part of the flood-warning network, the USGS upgraded the streamgage at the Blanchard River in Ottawa and added two new streamgages, one on the Blanchard River at Gilboa  and one on Riley Creek, a tributary to the Blanchard River.

Quantifying Viruses And Bacteria In Wastewater.

11/1/2011 --Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) are a relatively new and increasingly used wastewater-treatment technology in which conventional treatment is replaced by a membrane separation process.  In MBR and conventional plants, bacterial indicators, such as E. coli and fecal coliforms, are used to indicate the removal of pathogenic viruses, bacteria, and protozoa.  There is little information, however, on the effectiveness of MBRs in removing human enteric viruses (which cause a wide range of diseases and symptoms) from wastewaters. To fill this gap, samples were collected throughout treatment processes in three MBR and two conventional wastewater plants in a USGS study in Ohio.  The first report on this study presents results for enteric viruses, bacterial indicators, and coliphage (virus indicator) concentrations in wastewater and documents procedures for quantifying and qualifying data on concentrations of enteric viruses.

Older News