| Title |
Characteristics of First Flush in Highway Storm Runoff |
| Authors |
김이형 ( Lee Hyung Kim ) ; 강주현 ( Joo Hyon Kang ) |
| Keywords |
Best management practices; First flush; Highway; Los Angeles |
| Abstract |
Vehicle emissions from highway landuse include different pollutants such as heavy metals, oil and grease and particulates from fuels, brake pad wear and tire wear. Since highways are impervious and have high pollutant mass emissions from vehicular activity, it is considered as stormwater intensive landuses. Therefore this research was performed to understand the magnitude of first flush and to suggest the criteria of first flush for storm runoff management in highways. The fractions of washed-off mass are very high in first 30% of runoff volume, which suggests a definition of first flush. The washed-off mass stabilizes after 30% of the runoff volume and it is apparent that treatment capacity in the early part of a storm is more valuable than treatment capacity in the later part of the storm. Using the criteria of "high" first flush and "medium" first flush, as 50% of the mass in the first 30% of the volume, and 30 to 50% in the first 30% volume, respectively, more than 30% of the storms showed high first flush. A "first flush friendly" best management practice(BMP), meaning a BMP that can treat a high percentage or all of the initial flow, would be advantageous up to 80% of the events. |