Margit Kõiv-Vainik gives an insight into ongoing work on my three main Canadian collaboration projects on stormwater runoff management and treatment with different phytotechnologies in cold climate conditions.
Stormwater from urban and agricultural areas is a type of 'non-point source' pollution that picks up and carries numerous pollutants into our waterways and causes many environmental problems. The three stormwater runoff project aim to determine: 1) the impact of bioretention cells on the drainage systems and groundwater, and role of plant species in these systems; 2) the effect of highway roadside vegetation management on the quantity and quality of highway runoff; and 3) the potential of horizontal subsurface flow treatment wetlands in removal of pesticides from agricultural diffuse pollution, the role of selected macrophyte species, and the effect of filter media enhancement with biochar on overall treatment performance.