Ewa Wojciechowska

Rural domestic wastewater treatment in Norway and Poland: experiences, cooperation and concepts on the improvement of constructed wetland technology

This article describes Norwegian and Polish experiences concerning domestic wastewater treatment obtained during nearly 20 years of operation for constructed wetland (CW) systems in rural areas and scattered settlements. The Norwegian CW systems revealed a high performance with respect to the removal of organic matter, biogenic elements and faecal indicator bacteria. The performance of the Polish CW systems was unstable, and varied between unsatisfied and satisfied treatment efficiency provided by horizontal and vertical flow CWs, respectively. Therefore, three different concepts related to the improvement of CW technology have been developed and implemented in Poland. These concepts combined some innovative solutions originally designed in Norway (e.g. an additional treatment step in biofilters) with Polish inspiration for new CWs treating rural domestic wastewater. The implementation of full-scale systems will be evaluated with regard to treatment efficiency and innovative technology; based on this, a further selection of the most favourable CW for rural areas and scattered settlements will be performed.

Domestic Wastewater Treatment

SSF systems are usually applied at the 2nd stage of domestic wastewater treatment, after mechanical treatment. The number of such installations working at the moment in Europe is estimated to be 100,000. In Germany about 10,000 systems are in operation.

Hazard assessment of sediments from a wetland system for treatment of landfill leachate using bioassays.

Four bioassays were used in this study for the hazard assessment of sediments from sediment traps and several ponds in a treatment wetland for landfill leachate at Atleverket, Sweden. In the 6-day solid phase microbiotest with the sediment-dwelling crustacean Heterocypris incongruens both acute and chronic effects were observed with a gradual decrease and loss of toxicity with treatment in the wetland system. Some samples showed a low toxicity in porewater and only one sample was weakly toxic in the whole sediment test when assessed with Aliivibrio fischeri (Vibro fischeri). No genotoxicity was detected in the umu test. The toxicity response in the H4IIE- luc test evaluating the presence of dioxin-like compounds was considerably higher in the samples from the sediment traps. The hazard of the sediment therefore appears to be highest in the sediment traps and pond 1 with the methods employed. The result indicates that the wetland system has a design supporting the concentration and sequestration of toxic substances in the first part of the wetland. Based upon the results we suggest that hazard assessment of sediments from other treatment wetlands for landfill leachate should be conducted.

Removal of persistent organic pollutants from landfill leachates treated in three constructed wetland systems.

The objective of the study was assessment of occurrence and removal of two groups of persistent organic pollutants: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in landfill leachate (LL) treated in three constructed wetland systems (CWs) of different construction and flow regime. Two subsurface flow systems (SSF) were analyzed: one with horizontal flow and the second one consisting of two vertical flow beds followed by a horizontal flow bed. The third CW was a surface flow (SF) system, consisting of 10 ponds connected in series. The concentrations of 12 PAHs and 7 PCBs were measured in the samples of LL after subsequent treatment stages and in the sediment samples from the SF system as well as in the substrate samples from the SSF flow systems. It was confirmed that the major mechanism of PCB and PAH removal in CW systems was adsorption to the bottom sediments (in the SF system) or substrate of the beds (in the SSF systems) as well as adsorption to suspended solids, followed by sedimentation. The compounds characterized by higher octanol/water partition coefficient were more effectively retained in the sediments. Also removal of these substances occurred in the earlier stages of treatment.

Application of Vertical Flow Constructed Wetlands for Highly Contaminated Wastewater Treatment: Preliminary Results

Based on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of reject waters (RWC) generated during dewatering of digested sewage sludge on centrifuges in conventional WWTP and municipal landfill leachate (LL), the pilot constructed wetlands for treatment of both types wastewater were designed and built. In the paper the conception, design and assumed treatment efficiencies of the pilot plants are presented. The water balance of the pilot treatment wetlands is presented and potential implications of water losses through evapotranspiration in case of treating wastewater with high concentrations of pollutants are discussed. Preliminary treatment results, obtained during the start-up period, showed good treatment effectiveness of BOD (74% for RWC and 84.5% for LL), while the effectiveness of ammonia nitrogen removal was below 20% for LL and from 48 to 59% for RWC.

Potential and limits of landfill leachate treatment in a multi-stage subsurface flow constructed wetland – Evaluation of organics and nitrogen removal

Constructed wetlands have potential of treating wastewater of poor biodegradability. The performance of a multistage sub-surface flow wetland treating municipal landfill leachate was assessed during three years of operation. During the study three research periods with different operation conditions were established. The hydraulic loads, operation mode of vertical flow beds and type of treated wastewater (raw leachate - leachate mixed with municipal wastewater) were changed. Removal of organic matter and nitrogen species was evaluated in each period. The average COD removal efficiency varied from 47.8% to 86.6%. The average total nitrogen removal efficiencies were 98.5%, 68.9% and 79.6% in subsequent research periods. The main problem was too high concentration of recalcitrant organic matter. The labile organic matter was completely removed however the effluent COD remained on relatively high level. Depletion of labile organic matter also limited denitrification resulting in incomplete total nitrogen removal.

Application, design and operation of constructed wetland systems: case studies of systems in the Gdansk region, Poland

Abstract Constructed wetland systems in Poland are applied to provide secondary treatment of domestic wastewater, protection of surface water and treatment of landfill leachate. Due to climatic conditions vegetated submerged beds (VSB) are most commonly applied for sewage and leachate treatment. For water protection systems with FWS or with mixed flow are more commonly used. The objective of the study was to recognize the efficiency and operation conditions of existing constructed wetland in Poland. It was concluded that discharging of too high loads of contaminations as well as too high hydraulic loadings leads to beds clogging and to the decrease of treatment efficiency in consequence. The average rates of organic matter and total nitrogen decomposition rates at the CW Wiklino were twice higher for the HF-CW II in comparison to corresponding rates for HF-CW I. The constants were dependent not only on temperature of sewage but on loads of contamination in the sewage as well.

Partitioning of heavy metals in sub-surface flow treatment wetlands receiving high-strength wastewater

The retention of heavy metals at two pilot-scale treatment wetlands (TWs), consisting of two vertical flow beds (VSSF) followed by a horizontal flow bed (HSSF) was studied. The TWs received high-strength wastewater: reject waters from sewage sludge centrifugation (RW) and landfill leachate (LL). The concentrations of the metals Fe, Mn, Zn, Al, Pb, Cu, Cd, Co, and Ni were measured in treated wastewater, substrate of the beds and in plant material harvested from the beds (separately in above ground (ABG) parts and below ground (BG) parts). The TWs differed in metals retention. In the RW treating TW the metal removal efficiencies varied from 27% for Pb to over 97% for Fe and Al. In the LL treating system the concentrations of most metals decreased after VSSF-1 and VSSF-2 beds; however, in the outflow from the last (HSSF) bed, the concentrations of metals (apart from Al) increased again, probably due to the anaerobic conditions at the bed. A major removal pathway was sedimentation and adsorption onto soil substrate as well as precipitation and co-precipitation. In the LL treating facility the plants contained substantially higher metal concentrations in BG parts, while the upward movement of metals was restricted. In the RW treating facility the BG/ABG ratios were lower, indicating that metals were transported to shoots.

Application of subsurface vertical flow constructed wetlands to reject water treatment in dairy wastewater treatment plant

ABSTRACT The paper presents the effects of applying subsurface vertical flow constructed wetlands (SS VF) for the treatment of reject water generated in the process of aerobic sewage sludge stabilization in the biggest dairy wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Poland. Two SS VF beds were built: bed (A) with 0.65 m depth and bed (B) with 1.0 m depth, planted with reeds. Beds were fed with reject water with hydraulic load of 0.1 m d−1 in order to establish the differences in treatment efficiency. During an eight-months research period, a high removal efficiency of predominant pollutants was shown: BOD5 88.1% (A) and 90.5% (B); COD 84.5% (A) and 87.5% (B); TSS 87.6% (A) and 91.9% (B); TKN 82.4% (A) and 76.5% (B); N-NH4+ 89.2% (A) and 85.7% (B); TP 30.2% (A) and 40.6% (B). There were not statistically significant differences in the removal efficiencies between bed (B) with 1.0 m depth and bed (A) with 0.65 m depth. The research indicated that SS VF beds could be successfully applied to reject water treatment in dairy WWTPs. The study proved that the use of SS VF beds in full scale in dairy WWTPs would result in a significant decrease in pollutants’ load in reject water. In the analyzed case, decreasing the load of ammonia nitrogen was of greatest importance, as it constituted 58% of the total load treated in dairy WWTP and posed a hazard to the stability of the treatment process.

PRE-FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR TREATMENT WETLAND APPLICATION FOR WASTEWATER TREATMENT IN DISPERSED DEVELOPMENT

The aim of the paper is to present the conducted analyses of pre-feasibility study of different approaches for wastewater management in a settlement of 180 persons. In the assessment both technical and economic aspects were analyzed. The costs were calculated for three different and, at the same time, most popular as well as possible technical solutions like: (i) construction of local wastewater treatment plant with gravitational and pressurized networks, (ii) construction of single family wastewater treatment plants, (iii) construction of sealed septic tanks. Carried out analyses of investment and maintenance costs revealed that at the stage of construction the most expensive is local sewer network with treatment plant, while the construction of a single family treatment plant has similar cost regardless of the technology used. When the long term operation and investment cost are accounted the most economical reasonable solution is the application of wetland treatment for household wastewater treatment.