Characterization of road-deposited sediment wash-off and accurate splitting of initial runoff pollution in heterogeneous urban spaces

Particulate materials arising from road-deposited sediments (RDS) are an essential target for the control and management of surface runoff pollution. However, the heterogeneity of urban spaces hinders the identification and quantification of particulate pollution, which is challenging when formulating precise control measures. To elucidate the factors that drive particulate pollution in heterogeneous urban spaces, the accumulation of RDS on dry days and the total suspended solids during six natural rainfall events were investigated across three urban–rural spatial units (central urban, central suburban, and remote suburban). The underlying surface type (asphalt or cement roads) and particle size composition jointly determined the spatial heterogeneity in the static accumulation and dynamic output loads of RDS during rainfall. These two factors explained 59.6% and 18.9% of the spatial heterogeneity, respectively, according to principal component analysis. A novel CPSI exponential wash-off equation that incorporates particle size composition and underlying surface type was applied. It precisely described the spatial heterogeneity of RDS wash-off loads, the estimated values exhibiting event mean concentration errors of 10.8–18.2%. When coupled with the M(V) curve, this CPSI exponential wash-off equation more precisely split the initial volume of runoff: a lower total volume (17.6–38.0%) was shown to carry a higher proportion of the load (70.0–93.7%) compared to the traditional coupled exponential wash-off equation (volume: 31.6–49.0%, load: 37–90%). This study provides a new approach to characterizing RDS wash-off processes and splitting initial runoff in heterogeneous spaces. [Display omitted] •Particle size and underlying surface determined the heterogeneity of RDS loads.•A novel CPSI equation was suitable for characterizing the wash-off process of RDS.•The CPSI equation had lower baseline (EMC) errors compared the traditional.•CPSI−M(V) can accurately split initial runoff in heterogeneous urban spaces.•A new approach was provided to characterize RDS wash-off and split initial runoff.