Using Turbidity to Determine Total Suspended Solids in Storm-Water Runoff from Green Roofs

Green roofs are a technology used to control the quantity of the storm-water runoff and reduce energy consumption. Questions remain about their effect on water quality. Total suspended solids and turbidity are of the main parameters for water quality. This study investigated whether turbidity could produce a satisfactory estimation for total suspended solids (TSS) in the storm-water runoff from green roofs. Measuring turbidity is much faster than measuring TSS; a log-linear model showed strong positive correlation between TSS and turbidity (R2=0.9374) with a regression equation of [ln (TSS)=0.979 ln (Turb.)+0.574]. This equation shows that turbidity is a suitable monitoring parameter for TSS when TSS sampling and testing are impractical or not feasible.