title: Comparison of heavy metal loads in stormwater runoff from major and minor urban roads using pollutant yield rating curves.
abstract: Trace metal export by stormwater runoff from a major road and local street in urban Sydney, Australia, is compared using pollutant yield rating curves derived from intensive sampling data. The event loads of copper, lead and zinc are well approximated by logarithmic relationships with respect to total event discharge owing to the reliable appearance of a first flush in pollutant mass loading from urban roads. Comparisons of the yield rating curves for these three metals show that copper and zinc export rates from the local street are comparable with that of the major road, while lead export from the local street is much higher, despite a 45-fold difference in traffic volume. The yield rating curve approach allows problematic environmental data to be presented in a simple yet meaningful manner with less information loss.
authors.affiliation: School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia. b.davis@usyd.edu.a
authors.forename: Brett
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Gavin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Birch
mesh_terms: D002947:Cities; D003300:Copper / Q000032:analysis; D004323:Drainage, Sanitary; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D007854:Lead / Q000032:analysis; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D011891:Rain; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015032:Zinc / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D007854:Lead; D003300:Copper; D015032:Zinc