Floating treatment wetland retrofit to improve stormwater pond performance for suspended solids, copper and zinc

Performance Evaluation of a Floating Treatment Wetland in an Urban Catchment

“…The measured pollution removal performance (ER) of the FTW was calculated to be 80% for TSS, 53% for TP, and 17% for TN (Table 2. These removal rates are encouraging when compared to findings of previous stormwater FTW pond studies [11][12][13][14]. The improved removal rates are believed to be the result of the unique experimental design that excluded potential short-circuiting and specifically focused on evaluating the pollution removal performance of the field-scale FTW alone, rather than as part of a stormwater treatment train.…”

“…Borne [11] observed significant reductions in TP as a result of a FTW installation in a stormwater pond. Similarly Borne et al [12] in NZ found FTW retrofitted stormwater ponds to be more efficient at removing TSS. However, there are currently few field studies on the performance of FTW in treating urban stormwater runoff [9] and their treatment performance remains largely unknown.…”

“…Juvenile plants are established directly into this floating matrix, and the roots grow into the water column below (Figure 2). Studies undertaken in the United States and New Zealand [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] have found that FTW can provide an effective, low cost, and low maintenance means of treating domestic and agricultural Studies undertaken in the United States and New Zealand [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] have found that FTW can provide an effective, low cost, and low maintenance means of treating domestic and agricultural wastewater and stormwater. Tanner et al [10] found that FTW were capable of reducing wastewater TSS by up to 81%, total nitrogen (TN) by up to 34%, and total phosphorus (TP) by up to 19%.…”

“…Juvenile plants are established directly into this floating matrix, and the roots grow into the water column below (Figure 2). Studies undertaken in the United States and New Zealand [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] have found that FTW can provide an effective, low cost, and low maintenance means of treating domestic and agricultural Contemporary artificial FTWs are typically constructed using a combination of woven plastic, organic based matting, and fibreglass [8,10]. Juvenile plants are established directly into this floating matrix, and the roots grow into the water column below (Figure 2…”

“…Following these early successes, FTWs have since been used for a variety of purposes including treatment of pollution emanating from mine tailings [4][5][6][7], and pollution removal from stormwater [8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”