Impact of Climate Conditions on Pollutant Concentrations in the Effluent from a One-Stage Constructed Wetland: A Case Study

Agnieszka Operacz (), Krzysztof Jóźwiakowski, Joanna Rodziewicz, Wojciech Janczukowicz and Piotr Bugajski
Additional contact information
Agnieszka Operacz: Department of Sanitary Engineering and Water Management, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Mickiewicza Av. 21, 31-120 Krakow, Poland
Krzysztof Jóźwiakowski: Department of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Leszczyńskiego St. 7, 20-069 Lublin, Poland
Joanna Rodziewicz: Department of Environment Engineering, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Warszawska St. 117a, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland
Wojciech Janczukowicz: Department of Environment Engineering, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Warszawska St. 117a, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland
Piotr Bugajski: Department of Sanitary Engineering and Water Management, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Mickiewicza Av. 21, 31-120 Krakow, Poland

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: This paper reports the results of an investigation into the influence of precipitation and air temperature on the efficiency of pollutant removal processes and effluent pollutant concentrations in a one-stage constructed wetland with subsurface vertical flow. We studied an on-site constructed wetland system that used Phragmites australis for the treatment of domestic wastewater. The system was located in central Europe, in the south-east of Poland, in a temperate climate zone with transitional features. Physico-chemical analyses of influent and effluent wastewater, as well as measurements of precipitation and air temperature were carried out in the years 2001–2010. It was shown that the pollutant removal efficiency of the treatment plant was significantly higher in the growing season than outside the growing season (the mean efficiency is usually a few percent higher but generally this parameter is highly varied). This indicated that temperature determined the efficiency of the wastewater treatment. We found that the amount of precipitation affected the concentration of pollutants in the effluent. The more rainfall there was, the lower the content of pollutants in the effluent from the treatment plant, which demonstrated that rainwater diluted the concentrations of pollutants in the treated wastewater—thus improving the efficiency of the wastewater treatment plant.

Keywords: one-stage constructed wetland system; wastewater treatment; precipitation; temperature (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/13173/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/13173/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:17:p:13173-:d:1231188

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().