Stormwater Treatment Evaluation of a Constructed Floating Wetland after Two Years Operation in an Urban Catchment

Christopher Walker, Katharina Tondera and Terry Lucke
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Christopher Walker: Covey Associates Pty Ltd., 124 Duporth Ave, Maroochydore, QLD 4558, Australia
Katharina Tondera: Stormwater Research Group, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs Drive, Sippy Downs, QLD 4558, Australia
Terry Lucke: Stormwater Research Group, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs Drive, Sippy Downs, QLD 4558, Australia

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 10, 1-10

Abstract: Constructed Floating Wetlands (CFW) for stormwater treatment are increasingly used to treat urban runoff. However, studies of large-scale systems and the long-term evaluation of their treatment efficiency are scarce. This article presents the final results of a two-year study of the pollutant removal performance of a CFW in a stormwater pond capturing runoff from a low-residential catchment in South-East Queensland (Australia) under subtropical conditions. Although the CFW treatment area to catchment ratio was only 0.14%, the results demonstrated a significant removal of both Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and Total Phosphorus (TP) from the stormwater inflows by the CFW. The efficiency ratios for TSS and TP were 81% and 52%, respectively. While the removal rate for total nitrogen was not significant for the CFW evaluated in this study, the ER was still 17%. However, the ERs for nitrate and nitrogen oxide were both 47%. The study results suggest that it may be possible to increase the pollution removal performance of the CFW by upsizing the system and including intermittent re-aeration zones in the surrounding stormwater pond. The results of this research study clearly demonstrate that CFW can be an effective treatment solution for the removal of pollution from urban stormwater runoff.

Keywords: constructed floating wetlands; stormwater pollution; urban runoff; treatment area to catchment ratio (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:10:p:1687-:d:112862

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