Understanding bioswale as a small water and wastewater treatment plant: A theoretical review

Abstract

Stormwater threats can be mitigated with the application of sustainable and renewable technologies such as low-impact development (LID) and best management practice (BMP). This paper aims to fill the present gap in practical applications and engineering science regarding modeling bioswales, a type of LID/BMP devices. Included is a new theoretical framework that treats bioswales as combined physico-chemical processes. A discussion of a coherent analogy between the bioswale and a conventional water and wastewater treatment plant (WWWTP) is presented without including biological processes. Finally, we provide new perspectives regarding computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for widespread use as a promising tool to optimize LID/BMP design for stormwater management.