Water Quality Enhancement Assessment of an Existing Flood Control Detention Facility in the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma

Abstract

Chemical measurements from five storm event flows were taken of the influent and effluent of a constructed wetland in the spring of 2005. The facility is an emergent marsh wetland that receives flow from a 240-acre, mostly residential watershed. The results were compared to quantify any water quality enhancement functions within the wetland. Rhodamine WT dye was used to identify the detention time. A fluorometer was utilized to monitor dye concentration at the wetland effluent structure and samples were taken as a peak in dye concentration was identified. The concentration of dye at the effluent structure was ineffective in quantifying the detention time of individual events because a distinct peak concentration was not identified. A range of detention times was identified and varied due to storm event intensity, duration and intermittent dry periods. The effect of the wetland system on contaminants is mixed.