Author(s)

S. Riley, S. Shrestha, P. Hackney & R. A. Mann

Abstract

The Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia is a populated area that includes a world heritage listed area. There is concern about the impact on the national parks of the pollution that may result from stormwater runoff from the roads in the area. A rainfall simulation experiment was undertaken on two areas with paved and unpaved road segments. Water quality parameters were examined, including metals, organic pollutants and sediment load. The hydrology and the hydraulics of the road surfaces were also studied. The paper reports on the experimental set-up at both sites and also the main results. Some recommendations are made concerning the management of the roads. Keywords: road erosion, rainfall simulation, water quality. 1 Introduction Unpaved roads contribute to sediment and pollutants discharged into bushland and National Parks in the Blue Mountains. The erosion associated with unpaved roads is well studied and there are several models that have been applied to predict erosion (Gruszowski et al. [1], Luce and Wemple [2], Zaiegler et al. [3]). Less is known of the runoff water quality in paved areas. In recognition of the issues associated with runoff from roads the NSW State government funded a program to pave roads in the area. The cost and environmental efficacy of the road sealing and erosion control program needed to be quickly established and data required to develop runoff-water quality-environmental impact models to

Keywords

road erosion, rainfall simulation, water quality.