Relationship between sediment build-up characteristics and antecedent dry days on different urban road surfaces in Malaysia

Abstract

This paper presents the pollutant build-up characteristics on road surfaces in residential, commercial and industrial areas in the southern part of Peninsular, Malaysia. Dust and dirt (DD) were collected using a vacuum cleaner for different numbers of dry days, ranging from 1 day to 10 days. The samples were weighed and analyzed for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total phosphorus (TP), and particle size distribution. Sediment build-up generally reaches a maximum after five continuous dry days. The pollutant-solids ratios show high variation for all the road sites. Anthropogenic and traffic activities significantly influence the pollutant compositions. As the dry day period progresses, fine particle increasingly dominates the pollutant loading on road surfaces. Effective control of pollutant build-up on the road surface is necessary for reducing the urban stormwater runoff pollution into the receiving waters. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.