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Review of emerging contaminants in green stormwater infrastructure: Antibiotic resistance genes, microplastics, tire wear particles, PFAS, and temperature
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This review examines how green stormwater systems like rain gardens and permeable pavement handle emerging contaminants including microplastics, tire wear particles, and PFAS chemicals. While these systems were not originally designed to capture such pollutants, the review finds that with proper design modifications they could serve as a first line of defense. This matters for human health because stormwater runoff carries microplastics and other contaminants into the waterways that supply drinking water.
Green stormwater infrastructure is a growing management approach to capturing, infiltrating, and treating runoff at the source. However, there are several emerging contaminants for which green stormwater infrastructure has not been explicitly designed to mitigate and for which removal mechanisms are not yet well defined. This is an issue, as there is a growing understanding of the impact of emerging contaminants on human and environmental health. This paper presents a review of five emerging contaminants - antibiotic resistance genes, microplastics, tire wear particles, PFAS, and temperature - and seeks to improve our understanding of how green stormwater infrastructure is impacted by and can be designed to mitigate these emerging contaminants. To do so, we present a review of the source and transport of these contaminants to green stormwater infrastructure, specific treatment mechanisms within green infrastructure, and design considerations of green stormwater infrastructure that could lead to their removal. In addition, common removal mechanisms across these contaminants and limitations of green infrastructure for contaminant mitigation are discussed. Finally, we present future research directions that can help to advance the use of green infrastructure as a first line of defense for downstream water bodies against emerging contaminants of concern.
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This review examines microplastic occurrence in urban stormwater and the potential of green infrastructure — particularly bioretention systems and constructed wetlands — to capture and remove plastic particles before they reach surface water bodies.
Microplastics and nanoplastics in stormwater management engineered porous media systems: a systematic review of their sources, transport, retention, and removal characteristics
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This systematic review summarizes how engineered stormwater systems like rain gardens and biofilters capture and retain microplastics and nanoplastics. The findings show these systems can effectively reduce plastic particles in stormwater runoff, which matters because untreated stormwater is a major pathway for microplastics to enter the rivers and lakes that supply our drinking water.
Bioswales as potential sinks for tyre wear particle pollution
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Researchers investigated the role of bioswale green infrastructure in capturing tyre wear particle microplastics from road runoff, presenting data from bioswales constructed in 2010 and quantifying their effectiveness as sinks for tyre-derived microplastic pollution.
Urban Stormwater and Groundwater Quality: Pathways, Risks, and Green Infrastructure Solutions
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This review examines how urban stormwater runoff transports microplastics, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, and pathogens into groundwater, analyzing physicochemical factors affecting pollutant mobility in urban soils and evaluating green infrastructure solutions such as bioswales and permeable pavements.
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This review of existing research found that when heavy rainstorms hit cities, they wash dangerous pollutants like germs, metals, and particles into waterways within just the first few minutes. These pollution spikes can make people sick through contaminated water, and green infrastructure like rain gardens helps reduce the problem but works less well during extreme storms or when not properly maintained. The findings suggest cities need better monitoring and maintenance systems to protect public health as climate change brings more intense rainfall.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.