Abstract
Emergent wetland plant species may exhibit different nutrient removal efficiencies when grown in monoculture and mixed stands in constructed wetlands for tertiary purification of wastewater. A glasshouse study was conducted to investigate the influence of mono- and mixed-culture between Canna indica Linn and Schoenoplectus validus (Vahl) A. Löve & D. Löve on their growth in, and nutrient removal from, simulated wastewater in the surface water of vertical-flow wetland microcosms. Plants were grown for 50 days before imposing nutrient treatments that simulated secondary-treated municipal wastewater effluent with either low (17.5 mg N and 10 mg P per litre) or high (35.0 mg N and 20 mg P per litre) nutrient concentrations. Treatment solutions were renewed in weekly intervals. After 65 days of nutrient and plant treatments, the total and above-ground biomass was significantly (P < 0.01) greater in the high compared with the low nutrient treatment, but there were no significant differences in below-ground biomass. Significant (P < 0.01) differences in above-ground and below-ground biomass were observed, but no significant difference in total biomass was detected among plant treatments. The highest below-ground biomass was in monoculture of C. indica, whereas the highest above-ground biomass was in the monoculture of S. validus. The biomass of mixed-culture was intermediate to that in the two monoculture treatments. There was significant interspecific competition between C. indica and S. validus in mixed-culture, with C. indica being the superior competitor. The concentrations of N and P in plant tissues (except P in above-ground tissues) were significantly (P < 0.01) higher in the high than in the low nutrient treatment. The accumulation of N and P in above- and below-ground tissues largely reflected patterns of biomass allocation. No significant difference was observed between the nutrient treatments in nutrient removal efficiencies. Plant uptake was the major nutrient removal pathway in the wetland microcosms. Nutrient removal from simulated wastewater in mixed-culture was not greater than in mono-cultures, due to interspecific competition. The results suggested that plant nutrient uptake was the major removal mechanism at the establishment stands in the constructed wetlands.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abe, K., & Ozaki, Y. (1998). Comparison of useful terrestrial and aquatic plant species for removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from domestic wastewater. Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, 44, 599–607.
Ayaz, S. Ç., & Akça, L. (2001). Treatment of wastewater by natural systems. Environment International, 26, 189–195.
Bassett, J., Denney, R. C., Jeffery, G. H., & Mendham, J. (1978). Vogel’s textbook of quantitative inorganic analysis including elementary instrumental analysis (4th ed.). London, New York: Longman.
Breen, P. F. (1990). A mass balance method for assessing the potential of artificial wetlands for wastewater treatment. Water Research, 24, 689–697.
Burgoon, P. S., Debusk, T. A., Reddy, K. R., & Koopman, B. (1991). Vegetated submerged beds with artificial substrates. II: N and P removal. Journal of Environmental Engineering, 117, 408–424.
Busnardo, M. J., Gersberg, R. M., Langis, R., Sinicrope, T. L., & Zedler, J. B. (1992). Nitrogen and phosphorus removal by wetland mesocosms subjected to different hydroperiods. Ecological Engineering, 1, 287–307.
Clesceri, L. S., Greenberg, A. E., & Eaton, A. D. (1998). Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater (20th ed.). Washington, DC: APHA, AWWA, WPCF.
Coleman, J., Hench, K., Garbutt, K., Sextone, A., Bissonnette, G., & Skousen, J. (2001). Treatment of domestic wastewater by three wetland plant species in constructed wetlands. Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 128, 283–295.
Cronk, J. K., & Fennessy, M. S. (2001). Wetland plants: Biology and ecology (p. 462). Boca Raton, FL, USA: Lewis.
Daniels, R. E. (1991). Variation in the performance of Phragmites australis in experimental culture. Aquatic Botany, 42, 41–48.
Davis, J. R., & Koop, K. (2006). Eutrophication in Australian rivers, reservoirs and estuaries – A southern hemisphere perspective on the science and its implications. Hydrobiologia, 559, 23–76.
EPA (2000). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Manual, Constructed Wetlands Treatment of Municipal Wastewaters. EPA/625/R-99/010. Cincinnati, OH.
Fraser, L. H., Carty, S. M., & Steer, D. (2004). A test of four plant species to reduce total nitrogen and total phosphorus from soil leachate in subsurface wetland microcosms. Bioresource Technology, 94, 185–192.
Ge, Y., Chang, J., & Wang, X. Y. (2000). Relationship between the physiological characters and purification ability of different plants in waters with two trophic levels. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 20, 1050–1055 (In Chinese with English abstract).
Gersberg, R. M., Elkins, B. V., Lyon, S. R., & Goldman, C. R. (1986). Role of aquatic plants in wastewater treatment by artificial wetlands. Water Research, 20, 363–368.
Greenway, M. (2005). The role of constructed wetlands in secondary effluent treatment and water reuse in subtropical and arid Australia. Ecological Engineering, 25, 501–509.
Güsewell, S., & Bollens, U. (2003). Composition of plant species mixtures grown at various N:P ratios and levels of nutrient supply. Basic and Applied Ecology, 4, 453–466.
Headley, T. R. (2004). Removal of nutrients and plant pathogens from plant nursery runoff using horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands. PhD thesis,. Lismore, NSW, Australia: Southern Cross University.
Headley, T. R., Huett, D. O., & Davison, L. (2001). The removal of nutrients from plant nursery irrigation runoff in subsurface horizontal-flow wetlands. Water Science and Technology, 44, 77–84.
Huett, D. O., Morris, S. G., Smith, G., & Hunt, N. (2005). Nitrogen and phosphorus removal from plant nursery runoff in vegetated and unvegetated subsurface flow wetlands. Water Research, 39, 3259–3272.
Jackson, M. L. (1958). Soil chemical analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Jing, S. H., Lin, Y. F., Wang, T. W., & Lee, D. Y. (2002). Microcosm wetland for wastewater treatment with different hydraulic loading rates and macrophytes. Journal of Environmental Quality, 31, 690–696.
Kadlec, R. H., & Tilton, D. L. (1979). The use of freshwater wetlands as a tertiary wastewater treatment alternative. CRC Critical Reviews in Environmental Control, 9, 185–212.
Kempers, A. J., & Luft, A. G. (1988). Re-examination of the determination of environmental nitrate as nitrite by reduction with hydrazine. Analyst, 113, 1117–1120.
Kurniadie, D., & Kunze, C. (2000). Constructed wetlands to treat house wastewater in Bandung, Indonesia. Journal of Applied Botany, 74, 87–91.
Murphy, J., & Riley, J. P. (1962). A modified single solution method for the determination of phosphate in natural waters. Analytica Chimica Acta, 27, 31–36.
Nyakang’O, J. B., & van Bruggen, J. J. A. (1999). Combination of a well functioning constructed wetland with a pleasing landscape design in Nairobi, Kenya. Water Science and Technology, 40, 249–256.
Reddy, K. R. (1983). Fate of nitrogen and phosphorus in a waste-water retention reservoir containing aquatic macrophytes. Journal of Environmental Quality, 12, 137–141.
Searle, P. L. (1984). The Berthelot or indophenol reaction and its use in the analytical chemistry of nitrogen. Analyst, 109, 549–568.
Sekiranda, S. B. K., & Kiwanuka, S. (1998). A study of nutrient removal efficiency of Phragmites mauritianus in experimental reactors in Uganda. Hydrobiologia, 364, 83–91.
Shi, L., Wang, B., Cao, X., Wang, J., Lei, Z., Wang, Z., et al. (2004). Performance of a subsurface-flow constructed wetland in southern China. Journal of Environmental Sciences-China, 16, 476–481.
Sundaravadivel, M., & Vigneswaran, S. (2001). Constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment. CRC Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 31, 351–409.
Tanner, C. C. (1996). Plants for constructed wetland treatment systems – a comparison of the growth and nutrient uptake of eight emergent species. Ecology Engineering, 7, 59–83.
Tanner, C. C. (2001). Growth and nutrient dynamics of soft-stem bulrush in constructed wetland treating nutrient-rich wastewaters. Wetland Ecology and Management, 9, 49–73.
Water Corporation of Western Australia (2000). What is wastewater? Bulletin, 1, 2.
Yue, C. L., Chang, J., Ge, Y., & Zhu, Y. M. (2004). Treatment efficiency of domestic wastewater by vertical/reverse-vertical flow constructed wetlands. Fresenius Environmental Bulletin, 13, 505–507.
Zhu, X., Cui, L., Liu, W., & Liu, Y. (2004). Removal efficiencies of septic tank effluent by simulating vertical-flow constructed Canna indica Linn. wetlands. Journal of Agro-Environment Science, 23, 761–765 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, Z., Rengel, Z. & Meney, K. Nutrient Removal from Simulated Wastewater Using Canna indica and Schoenoplectus validus in Mono- and Mixed-Culture in Wetland Microcosms. Water Air Soil Pollut 183, 95–105 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-007-9359-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-007-9359-3