Stormwater salt remediation and tolerance of turf and native grasses

Abstract

As stormwater management embarks on a new journey of resource allocation and disparity, addressing the contamination resulting from deicing salts is a growing concern for designers and land planners. Turf and native grass variety are currently one of the most readily available and adaptive resources to address some of these ever increasing hydrologic concerns. However, little is known about the water quality efficiency and optimal design layout of turf and native grasses in urban or rural landscapes with regards to salt remediation. In this study, a five plot series of grass swales was utilized in this study to measure water quality efficiency and salt tolerance of turf and native grasses. The grass varieties that were tested in this study include; Common hard fescue (Festuca trachyphylla), Chewings fescue (Festuca rubra commutata), and sheep fescue (Festuca ovina). Results showed that the grass swales that made up of a blend of grass variety were the most successful at reducing saline and TDS levels as compared to their monoculture counterparts. The findings reveal that a relatively simple grass swale could provide excellent salt and TDS reduction when utilizing a blend of grass varieties; specifically a hard fescue and sheep fescue blend.