Quality of stormwater runoff from an urbanised watershed

A field monitoring network was set up within the Stamford canal watershed in 1989 to study both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of storm runoff from this urbanised catchment. The data acquisition equipment comprised a continuous recording rain gauge, a water level recorder and an automatic water sampler capable of sampling storm runoff at preset intervals during rainfall events. Water samples were collected after each storm and laboratory tests were carried out on the physical and chemical properties of the storm water. Preliminary findings on the temporal variations of stormwater quality during single storms and the effects of antecedent dry weather period on the quality are presented. The average ranges of some of the significant quality parameters found in the storm runoff were also established. The quality of storm runoff from the catchment under study was found to be of an acceptable level and could potentially be developed as a water catchment area.