• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.69-78
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• 2007

Constructed wetlands and other aquatic systems have been successfully used for waste and wastewater treatment in either temperate or tropical regions. To treat waste or wastewater in a sustainable manner, the integrated eco-engineering designs are explained in this paper with 2 case studies: (i) a combination of vertical-flow constructed wetland (CW) with plant irrigation systemfor fecal sludge management and (ii) integrated CW units with landscaping at full-scale application for domestic wastewater treatment. The pilot-scale study of fecal sludge management employed 3 vertical-flow CW units, each with a dimension of $5{\times}5{\times}0.65m$ (width ${\times}$ length ${\times}$ media depth) and planted with cattails (Typha augustifolia). At the solid loading rate of 250 kg total solids (TS)/$m^2.yr$ and a 6-day percolate impoundment, the CW system could achieve chemical oxygen demand (COD), TS and total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) removal efficiencies in the range of 80 - 96%. The accumulated sludge layers of about 80 - 90 cm was found at the CW bed surface after operating the CW units for 7 years, but no clogging problem has been observed. The CW percolate was applied to 16 irrigation Sunflower plant (Helianthus annuus) plots, each with a dimension of $4.5{\times}4.5m$ ($width{\times}length$). In the study, the CW percolate were fed to the treatment plots at the application rate of 7.5 mm/day but the percolate was mixed with tap water at different ratio of 20%, 80% and 100%. Based on a 1-year data of 3-crop plantation were experimented, the contents of Zn, Mn and Cu in soil of the experimental plots were found to increase with increasing in CW percolate ratios. The highest plant biomass yield and oil content of 1,000 kg/ha and 35%, respectively, were obtained from the plots fed with 20% or 50% of the CW percolate, whereas no accumulation of heavy metals in the plant tissues (i.e. leaves, stems and flowers) of the sunflower is found. In addition to the pilot-scale and field experiments, a case study of the integrated CW systems for wastewater treatment at Phi Phi Island (a Tsunami-hit area), Krabi province, Thailand is illustrated. The $5,200-m^2$ CW systems on Phi Phi Island are not only for treatment of $400m^3/day$ wastewater from hotels, households or other domestic activities, but also incorporating public consultation in the design processes, resulting in introducing the aesthetic landscaping as well as reusing of the treated effluent for irrigating green areas on the Island.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2017

Nepal is a landlocked mountainous country in South Asia, located between China to the north and India to the south, east, and west. As such, wastewater management has become one of the most significant problems in urban area of Nepal. In Nepal, the centralized wastewater treatment systems were dysfunctional due to high cost of operation, discontinuous power supply, lack of proper maintenance and proper technical workforce to address the issues. As such, constructed wetlands (CW) were applied to treat various secondary wastewater as alternative to wastewater treatment facilities. Generally, efficiency and sustainability of CW technology depends on proper operation and maintenance and active community involvement. This study summarizes information about 26 CW in Nepal. Specifically, factors including data banking, removal efficiency, quality of discharged water, compliance to water quality standard of Nepal and operation and maintenance were investigated. Considering removal efficiency per pollutant, Ka-1 achieved the greatest reduction for most pollutant followed by B-1, L-3, Ka-5 and K-1. Nepal has practiced CW technology for more than 2 decades but currently, development of technology was interrupted by the inefficient performance of existing facilities. Public awareness about the technology, natural disaster, unavailability of specified substrate materials, lack of fund for further research and experiments has hindered the expansion of technology. In spite of these concerns, CW was still proven as an alternative solution to the present wastewater problems in urban areas of Nepal.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.199-208
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• 2011

Scarcity of water worldwide, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, increased energy consumption due to the Earth is threatened. Existing in the process of urban planning and development of forests, rivers and other natural ecosystems have been destroyed and that there was increased impervious pavement. Impervious pavement increase water circulation system to destroy the natural and urban water retention, infiltration and decreased evaporation. Nonpoint source pollution(NPS) occurs when rainfall impervious pavement and appeal directly to the river water inflow is adversely impacts of the situation. In this study, rainfall occurs impervious pavement NPS pollution reduction and temperature increase due to the increase in urban areas, and to solve heat island phenomenon is to develop small HSSF constructed wetland technology. The small HSSF constructed wetland sedimentation, filtration, adsorption, absorption by vegetation, including such mechanisms. Techniques for verification of the pilot-scale test was conducted. In the future domestic urban heat island phenomenon and restore the natural water cycle for the facilities will be used as a basis to develop.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.557-562
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• 2005

The field scale experiment was performed to examine the effect of plant coverage on the constructed wetland performance and recommend the optimum development and management of macrophyte communities. Four sets(each set of 0.88ha) of wetland (0.8ha) and pond(0.08ha) systems were used. Water flowing into the Seokmoon estuarine reservoir from the Dangjin stream was pumped into wetland system. Water depth was maintained at $0.3{\sim}0.5m$ and hydraulic retention time was managed to about $2{\sim}5$ days; emergent plants were allowed to grow in the wetlands. After three growing seasons of the construction of wetlands, plant coverage was about 95%, even with no plantation, from bare soil surfaces at the initial stage. Dead vegetation affected nitrogen removal during winter because it is a source of organic carbon which is an essential parameter in denitrification. Biomass harvesting is not a realistic management option for most constructed wetland systems because it could only slightly increase the removal rate and provide a minor nitrogen removal pathway due to lack of organic carbon.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.87-95
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• 2000

A vegetation purification system was applied to improve water quality of Masan Reservoir in Korea, which was composed of constructed wetlands in series. Five different kinds of macrophytes were planted in each wetland. The system was operated with the condition of low concentrations and high hydraulic loadings. Removal efficiencies(%) of chemical oxygen demand(COD) , total nitrogen(T-N) and total phosphorus(T-P) in this system were 9.0, 12.8, 20.1% , respectively. and removal rates(g/$m^2$/d) were 1.9(COD), 0.34(T-N) and 0.05(T-P) . Comparing this system with other wetlands operated at low hydraulic loadings, average removal efficiencies were low but removal rates were relatively high. Accordingly, this system could be applied to imporve reservoir water quality, because removal rates are more important than removal efficiencies in case of reservoir water quality improvement . However, the removal efficiencies and rates of this system are less than those of the hydroponic biofilter method which is a kind of a constructed wetland and utilize root zones of emergent macrophytes for trapping pollutants. Therefore, it is recommended that this system should be modified to utilize root zones of emergent macrophytes enough to improve reservoir water quality more efficiently.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.23-41
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• 2002

In this paper, changes of the coliform bacteria were investigated when aquatic plant pond was used for separating algal particles from waste stabilization ponds(WSPs). Three different types of integrated natural systems were operated. It was found that there were no significant interferences for the disinfection efficiency of two integrated systems (WSPs coupled with water hyacinth ponds) used for treating domestic sewage and upgrading the secondary effluent as well. However, when constructed wetland (CW) was combined with the shallow algal ponds and used for the secondary effluent, it seriously interfered with the disinfection efficiency due to the regrowth and/or after-growth of the coliform bacteria, which can readily metabolize the amino acids and sugars leached from plants. In order to find out the primary disinfection parameters, several sets of the batch test were run. It was found that sunlight is the most predominant factor for the coliform decay. During the night, algal toxicity partly supports the decay but during the day, deteriorates it by attenuating the sunlight. The pH in the range of 4 to 10 did not affect the decay in the dark.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.43-50
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• 2005

Wetlands can transform or remove pollutants from water body, such as nitrogen, phosphate, and organics. Many researches were conducted in relation to uptake process by aquatic plants in wetlands. However, water purification processes in wetlands are the results of physical, chemical and biological, especially microbiological reactions. As such, understanding on microbial processes is of great importance. In this study, we used pondor marsh-type wetland microcosms for investigating the water purification capacity and microbial functions, namely, extracellular enzyme activities, nitrification and denitrification. In a pond system, removal efficiencies of $NO_3{^-}$ and $PO{_4}^{3-}$ were 96% and 100 % respectively, while those in a marsh system were 94%, 100% respectively. These high removal efficiencies appeared to be caused by high adsorption ability to soils and microbial functions in wetland.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.91-102
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• 2010

Water quality and epiphytic diatom on the submerged stems of reed (Phragmites communis), which occupy 90% of the Donghwa wetland macrophytes were monthly monitored at three points such as inflow stream, high- and low-level wetlands, and outflow stream between March and October, 2005. 1) A diverse and high density of diatom species observed in the cold-season, especially Nitzschia palea and Nitzschia amphibia dominated the diatom community without wetlands. 2) High DAIpo and TDI indices were measured over the sampling periods and stations, regardless of nitrogen increase and phosphorus increase through the wetlands. 3) Higher density of diatom species in high wetland than low wetlands was attributed in the enough nutrients and light penetration by low growth of reed. Therefore, epiphytic diatom of reed stem in Donghwa wetland, where high nutrients released from the sediment and reed debris after the death of macrophytes, flourished with low canopy of low reed vegetation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.49-55
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• 2003

Total phosphorous removal rate was examined of a subsurface-flow treatment wetland system which was constructed on floodplain in the down reach of the Kwangju Stream in Korea from May to June 2001. Its dimensions were 29 meter in length, 9 meter in width and 0.65 meter in depth. A bottom layer of 45 cm in depth was filled with crushed granite with about 15~30 mm in diameter and a middle layer of 10 cm in depth had pea pebbles with about 10 mm in diameter. An upper layer of 5 cm in depth contained course sand. Reeds(Phragmites australis) were transplanted on the surface of the system. They were dug out of natural wetlands and stems were cut at about 40 cm height from their bottom ends. Water of the Kwangju Stream flowed from a submerged dam into it via a pipe by gravity flow and treated effluent was funneled back into the Stream. The number of reed stems increased from 80 stems/$m^2$ in July 2001 to 136 stems/$m^2$ in September 2001. The hight of stems was 44.2 cm in July 2001 and 75.3 cm in September 2001. The establishment of reeds at early operating stage of the system was good. Volume and water quality of inflow and outflow were investigated from July 2001 through December 2001. The average inflow was 40 $m^3$/day and hydraulic detention time was about 1.5 days. The concentration of total phosphorous n influent and effluent was 0.83 and 0.33 mg/L, respectively. The removal rate of total phosphorous averaged about 60%. The removal efficiency was slightly higher, compared with that of subsurface-flow wetlands operating in North America, whose retention rate of total phosphorous was reported to be about 56%. The good abatement rate could be attributed to sedimentation of particle phosphorous in pores of the media and adsorption of phosphorous to the biofilm developed on the surface of them. Increase of standing density of reeds within a few years will develop root zones which may lead to increment in the phosphorous retention rate.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.39-47
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• 2010

Annually, the scale of agricultural areas in Korea were being reduced as the lands were converted to other land uses. While the rate of productivity were either being maintained or increased, the pollution load from these areas were still greater in magnitude. Although the levels of pollutant concentration released in the agricultural watersheds were minimal, the combined quantities mostly from diffuse sources were high. As a consequence, the Ministry of Environment (MOE) in Korea adopted the use of free water surface (FWS) flow constructed wetlands to reduce the pollutant loadings emitted from agricultural watersheds for the improvement of water quality and protection of aquatic ecosystems. In this study, a constructed wetland treating stream water in an agricultural watershed was monitored since April 2009 subsequent to its completion in December 2008. Satisfactory performance was achieved for TSS, BOD and TP with 26%, 28% and 39% pollutant removal rates, respectively. In addition, the effluent water quality was improved and achieved compliance the national water quality criteria. Results of this study can be useful to establish design parameters and employ proper removal techniques of similar natural treatment systems for future implementation in the country.