Jovana Radovanovic (Florida) coauthored “Runoff Quantity and Quality from Amended Urban Residential Lawns published in the Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment. The paper appeared online on July 1, 2022 and will be printed in the November 2022 issue. Jovana was the lead author; her coauthor was Eban Bean of the University of Florida.

A staff scientist based in Florida, Jovana focuses on agricultural and biological engineering and is also a research associate with the University of Florida.

The Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment presents activity and research in water issues, challenges, and opportunities throughout the developed landscape, including sustainable stormwater management and water systems interactions. Subjects include urban stormwater quantity, quality, hydrology, characterization, treatability, and impacts; water harvesting; urban water ecosystem services; sustainable urban watershed management; urban streams; combined sewer overflow/stormwater interactions; urban energy/water interactions; on-site and decentralized water and wastewater systems, life-cycle analysis; and related policy, implementation, and economics.

The journal is a publication of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), which represents more than 150,000 members of the civil engineering profession in 177 countries. Founded in 1852, ASCE is the nation’s oldest engineering society.

Abstract:

New residential landscapes in Florida are often installed on sandy fill soil that has been compacted during construction. The goal of this study was to determine whether incorporating compost into new residential lawns could reduce stormwater runoff volumes and nutrient loadings. Before landscape installation, one of three treatments (null, tilled, and tilled with compost) were applied to the lawn area (60% of landscape) and after landscape installation was completed, approximately half of the lots were top dressed. Overall, drainage areas with compost-amended soils produced 2.5% less runoff than tilled soils, but did not produce less runoff than null soils. However, considering variability across storm events, amending soils resulted in lower event runoff depths compared with tilled and null treatments, with effective curve numbers of 77, 88, and 82, respectively. Neither total nitrogen (TN) nor total phosphorus (TP) concentrations or loadings were significantly different based on treatment or topdressing. Annualized TN loading rates were highest for tilled soils and lowest for composted soils. Tilled soils produced the greatest annualized phosphorus loading rates, with null soils producing the lowest loading rates. Results of this study indicate that amending compacted fill soils with compost prior to landscape installation decreased runoff volumes without increasing nutrient concentrations.

More Information

Learn more about the article: Runoff Quantity and Quality from Amended Urban Residential Lawns | Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment | Vol 8, No 4 (ascelibrary.org)
Learn more about the journal: Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment | ASCE Library
For consultation regarding runoff and biological engineering, contact Jovana at Jovana.Radovanovic@Geosyntec.com.
Learn more about Jovana at Jovana Radovanovic | LinkedIn.