Collection, storage and treatment of stormwater in urban areas has been one of the classical disciplines of sanitary and environmental engineering in the past. Waste and pollution transported by stormwater poses quantity and quality problems, is affecting public health and threatens the quality of the environment – most important surface water ecosystems. While traditional solutions have been mostly concerned with discharge and storage, quality issues gained increasing attention over the last years. Reason being both the pollution of the receiving water due to urban stormwater management and the potential use of stormwater as an alternative source of freshwater. This special issue of Water Research covers the most important issues related to management of stormwater in 26 articles. The objective is to give the reader an overview of the state of the art by presenting the most recent findings of high quality research within the new hot topics related to stormwater.
The first part of this issue presents findings with relation to stormwater quality. The manuscripts deal with highway runoff, toxic substances, pathogens and priority pollutants. Results are given from monitoring campaigns (mostly from US, Europe and Australia) but also in the context of comprehensive literature reviews.
The second half of the issue deals more broadly with a wider spectrum of topics. Papers are covering hydraulic aspects, filtration and clogging of stormwater facilities like swales, permeable pavement and biofilters. Another range of papers accounts for design principles of stormwater management, specifically focusing on sustainable solutions but also on the effect to pluvial flooding. Modeling, data treatment and uncertainty analysis with relation to stormwater concludes the special issue.
The editors hope that by reading these papers major challenges will be visualized to the readers but also that there are promising solutions available to these challenges. We appreciate the valuable support of our colleagues who have devoted their time to review the manuscripts and thus ensure the quality of this issue. We also express sincere thanks to the staff of Water Research for their valuable editorial support.