Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Hydraulic Conductivity, Snow Depth, and Soil Properties of a Bioretention System

Abstract

Bioretention Cells (BC) are a Low Impact Development technology that provide distributed storm water management near to its source. Most research envisages BC as a black box with ambiguous processes between the input and the output. This thesis aims to consider BCs as heterogeneous systems with physical processes that vary both spatially and temporally. For this study, a 5-year-old BC at Kortright Centre for Conservation in Vaughan, Ontario is used as an investigation area. The following results were observed. D30 and D60 were lower in the central flow path due to sedimentation and suspended solids deposition. Organic content was negatively correlated with bulk density. Ksat in the central pathway region and non-central pathway region showed a mild rise during and a mild decrease respectively during warm winter days possibly due to freeze-thaw action. However, after statistical outliers were identified and removed from the Ksat data, this effect was not observed.