• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.431-440
• /
• 2014

To propose the improvement and management plans to strengthen the pollutant removal efficiency of dam reservoir's constructed wetlands(CWs), the operation status and configuration of CWs (including water depth, operational flow, water flow distribution, residence time, and pollutant removal efficiency, aspect ratio, open water/vegetation ratio etc.) were analyzed in 10 major wetlands constructed in dam reservoirs. The pollutant concentrations in the inflows of the studied CWs were lower than those of American and European constructed wetlands. Especially, organic matter concentrations in all of inflows were below 3 mg/L(as BOD) due to advanced treatment of sewage disposal plant and an intake of low concentration water during dry and normal seasons. The average removal efficiency of total nitrogen(TN) and total phosphorus(TP) for 10 CWs ranged from 7.6~67.6%(mean 24.9%) and -4.9~74.5%(mean 23.7%), respectively, showing high in wetlands treating municipal wastewater. On the other hand, the removal efficiency of BOD was generally low or negative with ranging from -133.3 to 41.7%. From the analysis of the operation status and configuration of CWs, it is suggested that the low removal efficiency of dam reservoir's CWs were caused by both structural (inappropriate aspect ratio, excessive open water area) and operational (neglecting water-level management, lack of facilities and operation for first flush treatment, lake of monitoring during rainy events) problems. Therefore, to enable to play a role as a reduction facility of non-point source(NPS) pollutants, an appropriate design and operation manuals for dam reservoir's CW is urgently needed. In addition, the monitoring during rainy events, when NPS runoff occur, must be included in operation manual of CW, and then the data obtained from the monitoring is considered in estimation of the pollutant removal efficiency by dam reservoir's CW.