Ecological Engineering 75 (2015) 155160

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Ecological Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecoleng

Short communication

Comparison of removal efciencies in Mediterranean pilot constructed

wetlands vegetated with different plant species
Attilio Toscano, Alessia Marzo * , Mirco Milani, Giuseppe L. Cirelli, Salvatore Barbagallo
Department of Agri-food and Environmental Systems Management, Hydraulics Division, University of Catania, Via S. Soa 100, Catania 95123, Italy

A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Article history:
Received 1 August 2014
Received in revised form 26 November 2014
Accepted 1 December 2014
Available online xxx

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are wastewater treatment systems suitable for reducing a contaminant load
in wastewater, economically. In this study, vegetated and unplanted pilot gravel lters, for tertiary
treatment of efuent from a conventional wastewater treatment plant (trickling lter) in Southern Italy
(Sicily), are compared with pollutant removal efciencies. Two beds are unplanted (control systems)
whereas eight beds are planted with four different macrophyte species: Vetiveria zizanoides,Miscanthus x
giganteus, Arundo donax and Phragmites australis. The treatment performance of each wetland has been
evaluated using the load removal efciency (LRE) in order to take into account the ET effect. The
comparison between wetland treatment removal of vegetated H-SSF CWs and unplanted lters showed
that systems with plants have achieved a higher treatment efciency. ET, measured in vegetated beds,
appeared different from ET of control units, underlining the strong effect of vegetation.
2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Constructed wetland
Vetiveria zizanoides
Miscanthus x giganteus
Arundo donax
Phragmites australis
Wastewater treatment

1. Introduction
The typical warm climate of Mediterranean areas, all
year-round is suitable for using CW as wastewater treatment,
since it is conducive to the plant growth and microbiological
activity, which have a positive effect on treatment efciency
(Bojcevska and Tonderski, 2007; Kaseva, 2004; Barbagallo et al.,
2012). However, rainfall and evapotranspiration (ET) may inuence
pollutant removal efciency in subsurface ow CWs. Furthermore,
in regions suffering from water shortage, where there is a growing
interest in the use of reclaimed efuent for agricultural purposes, a
loss of signicant amount of water via ET is undesirable because of
water quantity reduction and non biodegradable pollutant
concentration increase in the outow (Headley et al., 2012;
El Hamouri et al., 2007; Green et al., 2006). In this paper is analysed
the load removal efciency for four emergent plant species
(Vetiveria zizanoides, Miscanthus x giganteus, Arundo donax and
Phragmites australis) taking into account the evapotranspiration
effect on removal processes with regards to weather conditions
and vegetation types. While Phragmites, Arundo, and Vetivera are
usually used in constructed wetland systems, M. x giganteus, a
perennial herbaceous plant, has not commonly applied. This plant

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 95 7147593.

E-mail addresses: attilio.toscano@unict.it (A. Toscano), alessia.marzo@unict.it
(A. Marzo), mirco.milani@unict.it (M. Milani), giuseppe.cirelli@unict.it (G.L. Cirelli),
salvo.barbagallo@unict.it (S. Barbagallo).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2014.12.005
0925-8574/ 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

was chosen because it is suitable for renewable energy source,

since its relatively high dry matter yielded especially when it is
irrigated.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Pilot constructed wetlands
The research activity was performed in a CW pilot-scale, located
in San Michele di Ganzaria (37
170 000 N and 14
260 000 E), Sicily, used
for tertiary treatment of efuent from a conventional municipal
wastewater treatment plant. The CW pilot-scale system is made of
2 parallel lines, each of them is formed of 5 horizontal sub surface
ow (H-SSF) constructed wetlands working in parallel. In each line,
four beds are planted with four different macrophyte species
(V. zizanoides, M. x giganteus, A. donax and P. australis) while one
bed is unvegetated as control system. All the emergent herbaceous
plants were planted in CWs in November 2011 at a density of four
rhizomes per m2. All wetlands are rectangular with a surface area
of 4.5 m2 (1.5 m  3.0 m), made of concrete and lled with volcanic
gravel for a depth of 0.6 m. The pilot-scale wetlands were fed in
sequence with wastewater from the efuent of the secondary
clarier, equally divided into the two lines. Wastewater efuent
from each bed, rst is collected in a plastic tank (one per bed),
where a submersible pump with a water level sensor is located in
order to empty the tank in an intermittent way. The ow rate
treated in the CW plant was measured by 2 electronic ow meters,
installed at the inlet of each line, and connected to a control panel.

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A. Toscano et al. / Ecological Engineering 75 (2015) 155160

Fig. 1. Monthly cumulative ET trend.

For each bed, the control panel records the inuent ow rate, the
efuent discharged volume (calculated on the basis of the number
of pump activations) and regulates the open/closing time of the
electromechanical valves, the latter installed in the inlet pipe of
each bed.

at the end of each month, in three 0.5 m2 sampling areas at

opposite ends and in the middle of each bed.
2.3. Water balance and evapotranspiration
A water balance method was used to estimate the water loss
from each CW via evapotranspiration (ET) in mm d1, during the
vegetative period (from Spring to late Autumn), using Eq. (1):

2.2. Wastewater and agronomic sampling

The monitoring period was from March to November 2012,
during which water quality was assessed two/three times per
month. For each monitoring event, samples were collected at
11 water quality monitoring points: at the inlet of CW system and
at the outlet of ten reed beds. Samples were analysed according to
standard methods (APHA, AWWA, AEF, 2005) for physicochemical
and microbiological parameters such as: total suspended solids
(TSS) at 105
C, COD, orthophosphates (PO4), ammonia (NH4), total
nitrogen (TN) and Escherichia coli. The plant height were measured,

ET

V in
V out
P
A
A

(1)

where Vin (m3 d1) is the mean volume of the inuent daily fed in
the CW pilot plant, A is surface area of CW bed (4.5 m2), P is the net
precipitation (mm d1) and Vout (m3 d1) is the mean daily volume
efuent collected in the constructed wetland beds planted with the
same macrophyte. The inlet ow rate (Vin) to the H-SSF beds was
measured and recorded by electronic ow meter while the outow
rate (Vout) was calculated on the number of pump activations per

Table 1
Mean inuent (SD) and efuent (SD) pollutant concentration, mean mass loadings (SD) at the inlet and outlet of all the CW beds and mean load removal efciency (SD).
SST

COD

NH4

TN

E. colia

PO4

Inuent

(mg/L)
(g/m2 d)

94
54

(69)
(34)

83
40

(35)
(18)

9.7
4.6

(4.2)
(2.0)

25.5
11.9

(8.3)
(3.6)

3.9
1.9

(1.9)
(0.4)

5.6

(0.4)

Vetiveria zizanoides

Out (mg/L)
Out (g/m2 d)
LRE (%)

7
3
86

(4)
(2)
(9)

26
12
62

(12)
(5)
(14)

4.1
1.9
51

(1.7)
(0.7)
(5.6)

10.2
4.7
59

(4.4)
(2.0)
(6.1)

3.0
1.4
25

(0.9)
(0.4)
(2.2)

2.9

(0.5)

2.7

(0.5)

Out (mg/L)
Out (g/m2 d)
LRE (%)

7
3
86

(3)
(1)
(11)

27
12
61

(11)
(5)
(12)

4.1
1.9
52

(2.2)
(1.0)
(6.3)

9.9
4.6
57

(3.9)
(1.6)
(6.5)

3.3
1.5
20

(1.2)
(0.6)
(2.3)

2.9

(0.6)

2.8

(0.6)

Out (mg/L)
Out (g/m2 d)
LRE (%)

6
3
89

(3)
(1)
(10)

28
13
59

(15)
(6)
(13)

3.8
1.8
53

(1.1)
(0.4)
(5.2)

9.9
4.6
56

(4.1)
(1.8)
(6.0)

2.9
1.4
28

(1.2)
(0.6)
(2.4)

2.8

(0.4)

2.8

(0.4)

Out (mg/L)
Out (g/m2 d)
LRE (%)

7
3
88

(4)
(1)
(8)

25
11
63

(13)
(6)
(10)

3.9
1.8
57

(2.0)
(0.8)
(4.5)

9.5
4.3
61

(4.4)
(1.9)
(6.0)

3.0
1.4
29

(1.2)
(0.5)
(2.1)

2.5

(0.6)

3.1

(0.6)

Out (mg/L)
Out (g/m2 d)
LRE (%)

10
4
83

(4)
(2)
(12)

37
17
53

(17)
(7)
(15)

5.9
2.7
43

(2.8)
(1.3)
(6.5)

14.5
6.7
43

(4.7)
(2.0)
(6.3)

3.0
1.4
19

(0.9)
(0.5)
(2.5)

3.5

(0.7)

2.2

(0.7)

Myscanthus x giganteus

Arundo donax

Phragmites australis

Unplanted (control system)

Concentration and removal values in Ulog.

A. Toscano et al. / Ecological Engineering 75 (2015) 155160

Fig. 2. Variation of load removal efciency (LRE) for: (a) TSS, (b) COD and (c) NH4. Each point represents the mean value of 23 samplings per month.

157

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A. Toscano et al. / Ecological Engineering 75 (2015) 155160

day. Precipitation data were measured by a meteorological station

(Campbell Scientic, Logan, UT) located close to the experimental
plant.
2.4. Removal efciency
Inow and outow mass loading rates (g d1) were considered
instead of mere inow and outow concentrations. Treatment
efciency of each macrophyte was evaluated using the load
removal efciency (LRE) for each parameter (Chung et al., 2008;
Daz Francisco et al., 2012) given by the following equation:
LRE

C in V in  C out V out
 100
C in V in

(2)

where Cin (mg L1) is the inuent pollutant concentration (the

same for all beds), Cout (mg L1) is the mean efuent concentrations of two beds planted with the same specie. For the
microbiological parameter, log reductions of cell numbers were
used to evaluated the treatment performances.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Water balance and evapotranspiration
The CW beds were operated at high hydraulic loading rate (HLR)
of about 360 mm d1 (nominal residence time = 13 h). As expected,
the measure of ET, for the planted wetlands was constantly higher
than ET in the unvegetated bed (ETcon), underlining the strong
effect of vegetation and seasons as it is reported in other studies
(Borin et al., 2011; Pedescoll et al., 2013; Tuttolomondo et al., 2014).
ET values increased gradually toward summertime when macrophyte height and leaf surface area were at their maximum, and
dropped in the winter due to low air temperatures (Fig. 1). The
average ET value of 15.6 mm d1, 10.2 mm d1, 7.1 mm d1, 6.8 mm
d1 and 3.3 mm d1 was respectively detected in P. australis,
A. donax, V. zizanoides, M. x giganteus and at unplanted beds.
The average water loss through evapotranspiration process
ranged from about 2% of the inuent ow rate at M. giganteus and
V. zizanoides beds to 5% at P. australis beds, with the highest

Fig. 3. Load removal efciency (LRE) versus plant height for NH4. Each point represents the mean value of 23 samplings per month.

A. Toscano et al. / Ecological Engineering 75 (2015) 155160

percentage reached in August (up to 12%). The highest cumulative

evapotranspiration value was measured in the CWs vegetated with
P. australis (4318 mm) followed by A. donax (2706 mm),
V. zizanoides (1904 mm), M. x giganteus (1804 mm). It should be
noticed that the small size of the experimental plant has probably
led to over-estimating macrophytes evapotranspiration, due to the
clothesline and oasis effect (Milani and Toscano, 2013).

159

inuent concentrations (incoming range 5.26.0 Ulog). Similar

E. coli treatment trends for all planted wetlands were observed with
a mean reduction more than 2.5 Ulog, similar to the results reported
in other studies (Kadlec and Wallace, 2009; Garca et al., 2013 Garca
et al., 2013). However, a single unit could not be enough for reaching
the standards recommended for wastewater reuse. Therefore,
combining different wetland systems is suggested in order to
increase the pathogen removal rates.

3.2. Removal efciency

4. Conclusions
During the entire operation period, TSS concentration remained
low and stable in the efuent of all CW beds, as it is highlighted
from the low standard deviation values of efuent concentration
(Table 1), despite high variations in the inuent.
The greater TSS load removal efciency was reached in the units
planted with A. donax (mean LRE = 89%), followed by P. australis
(mean LRE = 88%). Vegetation type and seasons seem to do not have
inuence on TSS removal, seeing as a weak linear relationship is
occurred (Fig. 2a; R2  0.4); TSS removal was generally not related
to the vegetation growth since the regression coefcients between
LRE and plant heights were rather low (Fig. 3a; R2  0.27). The
contribution of emergent plants on TSS removal is attributed to the
growth of their stems, roots, and rhizomes, that enhance TSS
removal efciency by reducing the water velocity and reinforcing
settling and ltration in the root network (Braskerud, 2001). Since
the studied wetlands have worked only for 1 year, the observed TSS
removal efciencies is mostly related to the sedimentation and
ltration processes within the wetland media (Toscano et al.,
2013). A progressive improvement on COD LRE was observed
during the monitoring period in all CW systems (Fig. 2b; R2  0.5),
due to an increase of biolm responsible for organic matter
degradation, but planted treatments generally achieved a higher
removal rate than unplanted treatment (Table 1). This is probably
related to the progressive development of the roots which increase
the sites available for bacteria growth. An increasing of COD LRE
with an increasing of plant height (proportional to the degree of
plant root growth into the gravel bed) was noticed especially for
Phragmites and Vetiveria zizanioides units since their central
tendency lines are always higher than those of the other studied
systems (Fig. 3b). The mean ammonia removals were lower than
those for organic matter and TSS (Table 1), as usually in horizontal
subsurface CW systems, since the nitrication, the biological
oxidation of ammonium to nitrate, is dependent on available
dissolved oxygen while H-SSF CWs are predominantly anaerobic
ecosystems and can not supply adequate oxygen for total
nitrication (Stefanakis Alexandros and Tsihrintzis Vassilios,
2009; Barbagallo et al., 2011). Vegetation inuenced positively
water quality since it was found that TN and NH4 removals in the
planted HSSF wetlands surveyed were higher than unplanted bed,
probably because of localized nitrication of NH4 in zones adjacent
to the oxygenated rhizomes of the bed and by NH4 plant uptake
(Fig. 2c).
NH4 removal seems to be positively affected by vegetation
growth, in particularly for Phragmites, where 60% of the NH4 LRE
variability could be attributed to vegetation growth (Fig. 3c). This
conrms the predominance of vegetation effect respect to other
process that occurred in nutrient removal.
Removal of phosphorus, in its soluble PO4 form, did not show a
dependence on the vegetation type. A slight mean removal for PO4
(from 19% to 28%) was observed with little differences between the
beds (planted or not). This was probably due to the very low inuent
PO4 values (1.32.5 g m2 d1), already close to the background
concentration (Table 1). In any case, the presence of plants could
contribute to remove PO4 because it is readily available for plant
uptake (Chung et al., 2008). CW systems were also efcient in
reduction of E. coli concentrations, in spite of monthly observed

The H-SSF constructed wetland pilot plant, located in San

Michele di Ganzaria (Sicily), was highly efcient in the reduction of
main chemical, physical and microbiological pollutant concentrations in municipal wastewater. The vegetated beds showed a
better performance in the removal process for all the investigated
parameters than unvegetated beds, underlining the active role of
macrophytes in the wastewater treatment. It was observed a slight
difference between the performance of the different plant species.
This could be explained by two reasons: (i) the plant root system
was not fully developed since the macrophytes species were
planted in November 2011 and the monitoring campaign started in
March 2012, and (ii) the nominal residence time was quite short.
The best removal performances obtained in the beds planted with
P. australis, conrm that this is the plant species most suitable to be
used in constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment. Good
results were also achieved in CW M. x giganteus. The use of
M. x giganteus in CWs could represent a sustainable and integrated
system for municipal wastewater management, linked to energy
crop production.
Acknowledgements
This research activity was carried within MEDIWAT Project
sustainable management of environmental issues related to water
stress in Mediterranean islands (cod: 2G-MED09-262) nanced by
EU (MED Programme).
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