ASCE has honored the writing team of Lewis N. Lloyd; G. Michael Fitch; Tony S. Singh, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE; and James A. Smith, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE, with the 2020 Wesley W. Horner Award for the paper “Characterization of Environmental Pollutants in Sediment Collected During Street Sweeping Operations to Evaluate Its Potential for Reuse,” published in the February 2019 issue of the Journal of Environmental Engineering.
In this nominated work, researchers examine environmental pollutants in sediment collected during street sweeping operations. The study provides a chemical characterization of this material regarding heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and oil and grease, and attempts to predict the concentration of these contaminants using average daily traffic, land cover and particle size. Seventy-nine locations were selected from six average daily (ADT) categories ranging from 1–400 to greater than 10,000 vehicles per day and four land cover categories including developed, open space; developed, low intensity; develop, medium intensity; and developed, high intensity. Average concentrations of As, Pb, Se, Ba, Cr, Ag, Cd, Cu, and Zu were 0.39, 7.3, 0.32, 14, 6, 0.046, 0.83, 0.89, and 30 mg/kg, respectively. The average total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) concentration of all 79 sites was 17,000 µg/kg. Oil and grease concentrations in the material ranged from 34 to 3,400 mg/kg.
The results showed that both average daily traffic and land cover cannot be used to predict the contaminant load of this material. However, a strong correlation was observed between particle size and the concentrations of all heavy metals and PAHs.
The Wesley W. Horner Award recognizes papers that have contributed to the areas of hydrology, urban drainage or sewerage.
