Design Methodology of a New Surface Flow Constructed Wetland System, Case Study: East South EL-Kantara Region North Sinai, Egypt

Abstract

In this paper, a model is developed based on simple equations to design a surface flow constructed wetland system (SFCWL). The hydraulics of the system and the pollutant removal based on first-order plug flow requirements for biological oxygen demand (BOD), Fecal Coli, Nitrogen (N), and total suspended solids (TSS) were considered. The model was applied to design SFCWL of vegetated cells (reed) followed by a storage pond system to treat 6000 m3/day of the degraded agricultural drainage water in the East South EL-Kantara region, North Sinai, Egypt. The model input data are summer air temperature 27 oC, winter air temperature 15 oC, influent concentrations for BOD 120 mg/l, Fecal Coli Number 10000/100 mL, TSS 155 mg/l, Phosphorus 5 mg/l, and Nitrogen 20 mg/l. The model output shows 3.54 days retention time, the total area of the system including a storage pond is 25.7 hectares. The expected overall pollutant removal efficiencies are 83.3 %, 99.5 %, 88.6%, 66%, and 50% for BOD, Fecal Coli, TSS, total Nitrogen and total Phosphorus respectively. The proposed wastewater treatment system as a promising low-cost treatment alternative can change polluted agriculture drainage water into an unconventional water source that can be utilized for irrigation and environment-friendly.