Wastewater Treatment in Constructed Wetlands with Horizontal Sub-Surface Flow

Wetlands have been used for uncontrolled wastewater disposal for centuries. However, the change in attitude towards wetlands during the 1950s and 1960s caused the minimization of the use of natural wetlands for wastewater treatment (at least in developed countries). Constructed wetlands have been used for wastewater treatment for about forty years. Constructed wetland treatment systems are engineered systems that have been designed and constructed to utilize the natural processes for removal of pollutants. They are designed to take advantage of many of the same processes that occur in natural wetlands, but do so within a more controlled environment. The aim of this book is to summarize the knowledge on horizontal s- surface flow constructed wetlands (HF CWs) and objectively evaluate their treatment efficiency under various conditions. The information on this type of wastewater treatment technology is scattered in many publications but a comprehensive summary based on world-wide experience has been lacking. The book provides an extensive overview of this treatment technology around the world, including examples from more than 50 countries and examples of various types of wastewater treated in HF CWs.

Jan Vymazal received his degrees from the Department of Water and Environmental Technology at the Prague Institute of Chemical Technology. He started working with constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment in the late 1980s at the Water Research Institute in Prague. After spending two years at Duke University Wetland Center as a visiting scholar during 1991-1993, he started to work as a freelance researcher. In 2001, he joined NGO ENKI, o.p.s. in Trebon in southern Bohemia. In 2004, he was appointed as an Associate Adjunct Professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University. In 2007, he also joined the Institute of Systems Biology and Ecology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Environmental Sciences at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. He is a member of many national and international professional societies, such as the International Water Association (secretary of the specialized group on the ’Use of Macrophytes for Water Pollution Control’), Society of Wetland Scientists, Phycological Society of America, Czech Algological Society (President), Czech Botanical and Limnological Societies.

Lenka Kröpfelová received her MSc. degree from the Department of Technology of Silicates at the Prague Institute of Chemical Technology. Between 1995 and 2001, she was affiliated with the environmental company ENVI, in Trebon, as a specialist on hydrochemistry of freshwaters and natural wetlands. In 2001, she joined NGO ENKI, o.p.s. as an environmental researcher and since 2003 she has been mainly focusing on constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment. Lenka Kröpfelová is a member of the International Water Association and Society of Wetland Scientists.