A Water Chemistry Assessment of Wastewater Remediation in a Natural Swamp

Abstract

AbstractVarious aspects of water chemistry of a natural forested wetland were studied in order to determine the possibility of using the wetland for advanced wastewater treatment in Louisiana and to evaluate the wastewater effect on swamp water quality. The study was carried out by comparing treatment and control cypress‐tupelo forests separated by a bottomland hardwood forest ridge. The treatment area (231 ha) received secondarily treated municipal wastewater at a rate of 6.3 × 106 L d−1. The calculated hydraulic detention time of the wastewater was 120 d. Electrical conductivity (EC), pH, and concentrations of 5‐d biological oxygen demand (BOD5), dissolved oxygen (DO), solids, nutrients, and trace metals were monitored. Mean concentrations for the wastewater were 14.6 mg L−1 for total N and 2.5 mg L−1 for total P. The dominant form of N in the wastewater was NO3‐N. The swamp system attenuated the NO3‐N by 100%, total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) by 69%, and total P by 66%. It appears that tertiary wastewater treatment was achieved due to the nutrient attenuations. Based upon our findings, we predict that the high N attenuation efficiency would enable the swamp to work well if the N loading rate were doubled. However, P removal was dependent on loading rate, hydraulic retention time, and temperature. The swamp was more efficient in treating wastewater during warm seasons than cool seasons. During the monitoring period, trace metals were not significantly increased in the swamp water because of very low concentrations in the wastewater.