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How Floating Wetlands Are Helping to Clean Up Urban Waters

dw1305

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UKAPS Team
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Hi all,
Here is one that has come my way, via my "day job". We aren't actually doing any wastewater work at the moment but I belong to some list server etc. so I still get bits and bobs and I thought this might be of more general interest.

<"How Floating Wetlands Are Helping to Clean Up Urban Waters">.

cheers Darrel

 
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Nice article. Wetland Reed Beds are also used as a bioremediation mechanism in my country as well.
 
It's amazing how much pollutants plants can soak up!

Funnily enough we visited some friends of ours in the Summer who run a little gite out in France. They are in the middle of nowhere so they have no mains sewerage connection.

Instead the have two small (maybe 3-4m x 3-4m) reed beds on the sloping property. The sewage and waste water pipes from the property run into the first reed bed, and then water flows from a pipe at the underside of the first bed and into the second, then from the a second pipe in the base of the second reedbed into a nearby brook. The system can supposedly support 20 people! Though I didn't try wading through it, there was no odour at all from either bed, even in 30 degree heat!

They have to have mandatory testing of the output water under French regulations, and the guy that came out to test it last time said the water was testing purer that their tap water - and proved it by drinking a glass of water from the output pipe of the lower reed bed! :oops::sick:
 
Hi all,
They have to have mandatory testing of the output water under French regulations, and the guy that came out to test it last time said the water was testing purer that their tap water - and proved it by drinking a glass of water from the output pipe of the lower reed bed!
When they are working properly <"they are fantastic">, but performance tends to drop off over time without some maintenance (mainly because Phragmites grows like mad). <"A review of constructed wetland on type, treatment and technology of wastewater">
".........Constructed wetland with low Hydraulic Loading Rate (HLR) performs exceptionally well and can remove 80%–91% Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), 60%–85% Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and 80%–95% Total Suspended Solids (TSS)..........."
"Vertical flow constructed wetlands" tend to be more expensive to construct, but then they tend to remain in good condition for longer than "Horizontal flow constructed wetlands". Horizontal flow tends to still work (at reduced efficiency) when they are partially clogged, so it is really "swings and roundabouts".

I've just found out that the French have developed a hybrid system <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925857414005655>, that looks quite interesting.

cheers Darrel
 
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