Abstract

Nitrogen removal rate and emergent plant growth were investigated of a free-water-surface constructed treatment wetland system, whose dimensions were 31m in length and 12m in width. The system was constructed on floodplain in the Kwangju Stream from May to June 2001. Cattails(Typha angustifolia) were transplanted from natural wetlands and their stems were cut at about 40cm height from their bottom ends. Water of the Kwangju Stream were funneled into the system by gravity flow and its treated effluent was discharged back into the stream. The average height of the cattail stems was 45.2cm in July 2001 and 186cm in October 2001. The number of stems averaged 22 stems/$m^2$ in July 2001 and 52 stems/$m^2$ in September 2001. Volume and water quality of inflow and outflow were analyzed from July 2001 through December 2001. Inflow and outflow averaged 40.01 and 39.55 $m^3$/day, respectively. Hydraulic detention time was about 1.5 days. Average nitrogen uptake by cattails was 69.31 $N\;mg\;m^{-2}\;day^{-1}$. Removal rate of $NO_3-N$, $NH_3-N$ and T-N averaged 195.58, 53.65 and 628.44 $mg\;m^{-2}\;day^{-1}$, respectively. The average removal rate of T-N was about 39%.

Keywords

• Free-water-surface constructed wetlands;
• Total nitrogen;
• Nitrification;
• Denitrification;
• Nitrogen removal;
• Biofilm