Development of small constructed wetland for urban and roadside areas

Recently, the green spaces in the urban areas were greatly reduced due to urbanization and industrialization. As urban structures such as roads and buildings are built, the amount of impervious area within a watershed increases. High impervious surfaces are the common causes of high runoff volumes as the soil infiltration capacity decreases and the volume and rate of runoff increase thereby decreasing the groundwater recharge. These effects are causing many environmental problems, such as floods and droughts, climate change, heat island phenomenon, drying streams, etc. Most cities attempted to reduce sewer overflows by separating combined sewers, expanding treatment capacity or storage within the sewer system, or by replacing broken or decaying pipes. However, these practices can be enormously expensive than combined sewer overflows. Therefore, in order to improve these practices, alternative methods should be undertaken. A new approach termed as "Low Impact Development (LID)" technology is currently applied in developed countries around the world. The purpose of this study was to effectively manage runoff by adopting the LID techniques. Small Constructed Wetland(Horizontal Subsurface Flow, HSSF) Pilot-scale reactors were made in which monitoring and experiments were performed to investigate the efficiency of the system in removing pollutants from runoff. Based on the results of the Pilot-plant experiments, TSS, $COD_{Cr}$, TN, TP, Total Pb removal efficiency were 95, 82, 35, 91 and 57%, respectively. Most of the pollutants were reduced after passing the settling tank and the vertical filter media. The results of this study can contribute to the conservation of aquatic ecosystems and restoration of natural water cycle in the urban areas.

도시 및 도로 조경공간을 활용한 소규모 인공습지 조성 기술

도시화가 진행될수록 건물의 옥상 및 교통관련 시설물 또한 증가하여, 녹지공간은 감소하고 불투수면은 증가하게 된다. 불투수면이 증가함에 따라, 도시내 자연적 물순환 시스템 파괴, 비점오염물질 증가, 생태축 단절 등과 같은 다양한 환경수리학적 문제점이 발생되고 있다. 최근 들어 국민들의 생활 및 의식수준이 향상되면서, 도시의 경제적인 측면뿐만 아니라 심미적인 측면, 환경적인 측면을 동시에 고려한 지속가능한 도시 개발이 요구되고 있다. 또한 강우유출수 관리에 대한 관심과 인식이 높아지면서 Low Impact Development(LID) 관련 기술의 개발 및 적용에 관한 연구가 활발히 진행되고 있으나, 국내 환경에 적합한 가이드라인, 설계기준 등은 매우 부족한 실정이다. 본 연구는 도시 및 도로가에 적용하기 위한 소규모 인공습지 기술을 개발하기 위하여, Pilot-scale 실험을 실시하였으며, 분석 결과, TSS, $COD_{Cr}$, TN, TP, Total Pb에 대한 평균저감효율이 각각 95%, 82%, 35%, 91%, 57%로 나타났다. 이러한 결과는 소규모 인공습지가 향후 도시 내 효율적인 물순환 시스템을 구축하고, 수생태계 보전에 기여할 수 있을 것으로 판단된다.