Effect of urban stormwater runoff on ground water beneath recharge basins on Long Island, New York

Urban stormwater runoff was monitored during 1980-82 to investigate the source, type, quantity, and fate of contaminants routed to the more than 3,000 recharge basins on Long Island and to determine whether this runoff might be a significant source of contamination to the groundwater reservoir. Forty-six storms were monitored at five recharge basins in representative land use areas (strip commercial, shopping-mall parking lot, major highway, low-density residential, and medium-density residential). Runoff:precipitation ratios indicate that all storm runoff is derived from precipitation on impervious surfaces in the drainage area, except during storms of high intensity or long duration, when additional runoff can be derived from precipitation on permeable surfaces. Lead was present in highway runoff in concentrations up to 3300 micrograms/L, and chloride was found in parking lot runoff concentrations up to 1,100 mg/L during winter, when salt is used for deicing. In the five composite stormwater samples and nine groundwater grab samples that were analyzed for 113 EPA-designated ' priority pollutants, ' four constituents were detected in concentrations exceeding New York State guidelines of 50 micrograms/L for an individual organic compound in drinking water: p-chloro-m-cresol (79 micrograms/L); 2 ,4-dimethylphenol (96 micrograms/L); 4-nitrophenol (58 micrograms/L); and methylene chloride (230 micrograms/L in either groundwater or stormwater at the highway basin). One stormwater sample and two groundwater samples exceeded New York State guidelines for total organic compounds in drinking water (100 micrograms/L). The presence of these constituents is attributed to contamination from point sources rather than to the quality of runoff from urban areas. The median number of indicator bacteria in stormwater ranged from 0.1 to 10 billion MPN/100 ml. Fecal coliforms and fecal streptococci increased by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude during the warm season. The use of recharge basins to dispose of storm runoff does not appear to have significant adverse effects on groundwater quality in terms of the chemical and microbiological stormwater constituents studied. (Author 's abstract)