BASELINE MEASUREMENTS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF FOUR CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS IN TROPICAL AUSTRALIA

Fell, A.; Jegatheesan, V.; Sadler, A.; Lee, S. H.

doi:2005.10.6.316

Environmental Engineering Research 2005;10(6): 316-327. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4491/eer.2005.10.6.316

BASELINE MEASUREMENTS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF FOUR CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS IN TROPICAL AUSTRALIA

A. Fell¹, V. Jegatheesan¹, A. Sadler², and S. H. Lee³^†

¹School of Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4814, Australia
²Citiworks, Townsville City Council, PO Box 1268, Townsville, QLD 4810, Australia
³School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Kumoh National Institute of Technology, Gumi 730-701, Korea

Corresponding Author: S. H. Lee ,Tel: +82-054-478-7632, Fax: +82-054-478-7629, Email: dlee@kumoh.ac.kr

Received: June 14, 2005; Accepted: December 16, 2005.

ABSTRACT

Constructed wetlands provide several benefits that are not solely limited to stormwater manage¬ment and are becoming common in stormwater management. In this research, four recently constructed wetlands underwent in situ and laboratory water sampling to determine their efficiency in removing stormwater pollutants over a 5-month period. From the sampling results, it was determined that each of the wetlands was able to reduce the concentration of pollutants in the stormwater. To aid in the assessment of the wetlands against each other, a model was developed to determine the extent of removal of stormwater pollutants over the length of the wetland. The results from this model complimented the data collected from the field. Improvements, such as increased amounts of vegetation were recommended for the wetlands with the aim of increasing the effectiveness. Further investigations into the wetlands will allow for better understanding of the wetland's performance.

Keywords: Constructed wetland | First-order kinetic model | Pollutant removal | Metal removal | Vegetation