Road-Deposited Sediment Pollutants: A Critical Review of their Characteristics, Source Apportionment, and Management

Abstract

Road-deposited sediments (RDS) often contain elevated concentrations of inorganic and organic pollutants such as heavy metals, metalloids, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The authors trace new developments and trends on RDS pollutant characteristics with respect to their distribution in time and space, total and labile fractions in the different particle size and density fractions, source apportionment, and chemical speciation, as well as on the management of the pollutants. Recent research provides more reliable information to understand pollutants’ origin, bioavailability, transport pathways, and methods to minimize their risks. Use of special chemical, physical, mineralogical, and statistical methods has contributed to a better understanding of source apportionment of many of the pollutants but more research is needed on others. The degree of accumulation of pollutants in RDS that are derived from roads and vehicles has been quantified by using enrichment factors. Many of the studies on RDS pollutant management dealt with reducing pollutants by road sweeping and water flushing but these have not been found to be very effective. Pollutants that enter the water bodies through stormwater runoff need to be removed to protect the aquatic environment in the receiving water. The current knowledge on stormwater treatment methods to remove pollutants is also presented.

KEY WORDS:

• contaminant source apportionment
• contamination factor
• heavy metals
• PAH
• road dust
• stormwater treatment

ACNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was funded by Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE) (project number 02-050-07).