Constructed wetlands: Treatment of concentrated storm water runoff (part A)

Lee, B; Scholz, M; Horn, A

Abstract

The aim of this research was to assess the treatment efficiencies for gully pot liquor of experimental vertical-
flow constructed wetland filters containing Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. (common
reed) and filter media of different adsorption capacities. Six out of 12 filters received inflow water spiked
with metals. For 2 years, hydrated nickel and copper nitrate were added to sieved gully pot liquor to simulate
contaminated primary treated storm runoff. For those six constructed wetland filters receiving heavy
metals, an obvious breakthrough of dissolved nickel was recorded after road salting during the first winter.
However, a breakthrough of nickel was not observed, since the inflow pH was raised to eight after
the first year of operation. High pH facilitated the formation of particulate metal compounds such as nickel
hydroxide. During the second year, reduction efficiencies of heavy metal, 5-days at 20°C N-Allylthiourea
biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and suspended solids (SS) improved considerably. Concentrations of
BOD were frequently �20 mg/L. However, concentrations for SS were frequently �30 mg/L. These are
the two international thresholds for secondary wastewater treatment. The BOD removal increased over
time due to biomass maturation, and the increase of pH. An analysis of the findings with case-based reasoning
can be found in the corresponding follow-up paper (Part B).

Citation

Lee, B., Scholz, M., & Horn, A. (2006). Constructed wetlands: Treatment of concentrated storm water runoff (part A). Environmental Engineering Science, 23(2), 320-331. https://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2006.23.320

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2006
• Deposit Date: Mar 21, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: Environmental Engineering Science
• Print ISSN: 1092-8758
• Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 320-331
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2006.23.320
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/ees.2006.23.320