Designing Structures to Remove Phosphorus from Drainage Waters
Channel: Livestock & Poultry Environ. Learning Community
Date: 2013-05-03

Proceedings available at: http://www.extension.org/67669

Several groups have developed P removal structures, which are units filled with P sorbing materials and designed to channel runoff water through them while retaining the filter material and P.  The goal is to prevent P from entering a surface water body and allow filtered P to be removed from the watershed after the P-saturated material is removed.  The P sorbing materials utilized are typically by-products from various industries and include steel slag, FGD gypsum, drinking water treatment residuals, and acid mine drainage residuals.  A modeling tool has been developed for (1) sizing a structure based on filter media properties and watershed characteristics, (2) predicting the lifetime of a P removal structure, and (3) estimating total P removal.  In addition to the modeling tool, data from full scale filters will be presented.