Effluent polishing in constructed wetlands in the United States Robert Gearheart Environmental Resources Engineering Department Humboldt State University Arcata California, USA
Type of Wetlands Used for Polishing Free water surface wetlands are usually used for effluent polishing in the United States Some application of subsurface wetlands are used for denitrification Hybrid system-wetland/soil/other
Examples of Tertiary Goals Less than 5 mg/l BOD / TSS/TN Groundwater recharge/critical stream Marine discharge-nitrogen limitation Fecal coliform less than 200 cfu/100 ml Irrigation reuse Total ammonia levels less than 1 mg/l Receiving streams with sensitive fish species Total phosphorus less than 0.5 mg/l Receiving streams/eutrophication potential
Examples of some of the over 150 applications of polishing constructed wetlands in the USA Great Swamp Effluent Management System Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority Beaufort, South Carolina (400 Acres- 3 MGD) Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary, Arcata, California, (40 acres 2.7 MGD) National Wildlife Visitor Center (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), Laurel, Maryland. (6 acres-13,000 gpd) Tres Rios, Phoenix, Arizona (60 acres demonstration, 1MGD)) Orange County Water District -Prado Wetlands, Orange County California (425 acres 2 MGD)
Soluble BOD is released from the Particulate BOD (Settled Solids) By day 8 all BOD is soluble -only internal BOD load is present 45 40 35 Total BOD (mg/l) Soluble BOD (mg/l) BOD (mg/l) 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 2 4 6 8 10 Days
Temperature attenuation to meet instream thermal standards for anadromous fish in California-delta 5 centigrade above 20 degrees C 20 INF Temp Influent Temperature (degrees C) 15 10 5 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 ) Y = M0 + M1*x +... M8*x 8 + M9*x 9 M0-5.1033 M1 10.107 M2-1.0486 R 0.87086 Temperature Difference (- influent)
Probability Plot of Removal of TIN (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate) after 10 days HRT 99% of weekly values less than 10 mg/l median value of 4 mg/l-arcata Total Inorganic Nitrogen (TIN) 50 40 TIN-IN TIN-OUT TIN (mg/l) 30 20 10 0.01.1 1 5 10 20 30 50 70 80 90 95 99 99.9 99.99 Percent
Phosphorus removal showing a net uptake of approximately 2 mg/l at a loading of 0.14 kg P/ha/day during the growing season 10 Influent Phosphorus (mg/l) 8 Cell 5 (.747 kg/ha/day) Cell 3 (0.14/day kg/ha/day) Phosphosphate-P (mg/l) 6 4 2 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Weekly (March-June)
Seasonal Phosphorus absorption and release-blue dots represent tap water in wetland that received secondary effluent-orange dots represent a lower P load-phase shift but phosphorus returns to about 90% of influent in non-growing season Influent Phosphorus (mg/l) 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Influent Marsh 3 Marsh 1 0 52 104 Time (weeks)
Phosphorus Removal Difficult to meet eutrophication limits of 0.01 mg/l with a wetland system Wetland can significantly take up phosphorous in growing season -which is period of eutrophication expression The internal phosphorus release will be a factor in meeting monthly standards (not seasonally adjusted) Soil/phosphorus interaction becomes less a factor as the detrital layer builds up on the bottom of the wetland
Synchronous Removal of TSS, BOD, and Fecal coliform suggesting a common mechanisms-settling process? BOD and TSS (mg/l) 100 10 Fecal coliform TSS BOD 10 4 1000 Fecal coliform (CFU/100ml) 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 HRT (Days) 100
Ammonia nitrogen release from TSS decomposition-increases at 8c ( 3days HRT 70 NH3-N and BOD (mg/l) 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Ammonium Nitrogen BOD 8a 8c 8e 8g Sample Site (HRT 6 days)
Fecal coliform removal through FWS constructed wetland-two log order in 6 days human pathogens (Salmonella spp.) found to follow similar rate 10 5 Fecal coliform Fecal Coliform cfu/100 ml 10 4 1000 100 y = 9030.5 * e^(-0.66181x) R= 0.96952 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Days
Example of BOD Probability Removal from a natural system to meet tertiary goal (Arcata, CA) 10 3 Influent BOD (mg/l) Ox Pond BOD (mg/l) TM BOD (smg/l) Hauser Effluent 10 2 BOD (mg/l) 10 1.01.1 1 5 10 20 30 50 70 80 90 95 99 99. 99 Percent Weekly BOD
Trace metal concentrations and removal rates, Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (SCRSD, 1998) Influent (mg/l) Effluent (mg/l) Removal Rate Metal Min Mean Max Min Mean Max (%) Silver 0.25 0.29 0.32 0.02 0.03 0.03 90 Arsenic 2.00 2.23 2.60 1.50 2.20 3.10 1.3 Cadmium 0.040 0.077 0.140 0.005 0.009 0.019 88 Chromium 0.50 1.05 1.40 0.50 0.77 3.10 27 Copper 4.60 8.62 17.00 1.60 4.04 7.00 19 Mercury 0.0084 0.0105 0.0144 0.0021 0.0031 0.0041 71 Nickel 4.30 8.23 23.00 4.10 8.96 20.00 --- Lead 0.25 0.58 1.20 0.05 0.14 0.26 55 Antimony 0.40 0.41 0.42 0.12 0.15 0.20 63 Selenium 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 --- Zinc 6.4 26.2 34.0 1.30 3.53 8.70 70
Settling Processes-dominant Discrete settling Flocculant Settling mechanism Little to no resuspension in a wetland Internal surface in a wetland important - detrital layers, etc Predation concentration-settling
Construction Barriers to infiltration-liners Planting techniques Berm size/structure and specifications Inlet and outlet types
Issues that need to be resolved to further the application of the use of constructed wetland to polish domestic effluents
Operation and Maintenance Vector control-mosquitoes Vegetation harvesting-planting Odor problems Burrowing mammals
Wetland Processes Removal and internal load mechanisms for BOD, ammonia, and phosphorus Role of different function types of vegetation- floating, submergents, and emergents-oxygen transfer, uptake, etc. Role of settling, autoflocculation and anaerobic breakdown of solids Evapotranspiration processes-plant types/coverage, size of system, climate, etc. Porosity, short circuiting, resistance (head loss), etc.
Design Considerations Design approach-design equationsassumptions North American Databaseevaluation Background constituents Aspect ratio, number of cells, shape, etc. Long term operation-performance, life cycle, etc. Open water (floating/submergent) vs closed water (emergent) Inlet/outlet type-location
Permitting/Policy Waters of the United States vs treatment area Once a wetland always a wetland-wetland policy Attractive nuisance-endangered Species Act Natural system effluent variation-discharge requirements Conversion of degraded wetlands-enhancement Leaky (infiltration) wetlands groundwater
Water Quality Dissolved organic carbon compounds-doc THM precursors Refractory organics Low level virus titers Perchlorates
Conclusions A wide range of applications and treatment levels Habitat enhancement Groundwater recharge Fisheries protection High public use passive recreation Aquaculture Limitation of treatment level dependent on internal factors related to the wetland plants, soils, biological activity, etc. The fusing of polished effluent with background water quality is a goal- Psychological effect of using natural systems (constructed wetlands) as a barrier between effluent processing and water quality benefits is significant in reuse i.e., drinking water, Native American fisheries, etc.