Experience of all-season use of FOPS®-K filter to remove debris from the surface runoff of a residential area

Summary

In residential areas that are places of residence and various activities of the population, a significant amount of solid materials of various origin and dispersion is formed that can be defined as debris (or municipal sweepings for roads). While interacting with atmospheric precipitation, this debris enters public wastewater disposal systems disrupting their operation («Rules for cold water supply and wastewater disposal»). To solve this problem, experimental studies were carried out to estimate possible removing debris from surface runoff using a FOPS^®-K filter (basket type). The premises of the university campus was chosen as an experimental residential area where debris of biological, anthropogenic and technogenic origin accumulated. The results of testing FOPS^®-K filter for two cycles (each for 12 months) showed that using the filter provided for removing not only large debris but also a significant part of the sand (3/4 of the total dry matter) from the surface runoff up to the size except 0.04 mm. It was established that all components of the debris captured by the filter contained 3–66.3 g/kg of oil products. During the tests, the debris was regularly removed from FOPS^®-K filter (once every 3 months).

Key words

surface runoff , residential area , FOPS filter , debris removal