Ecological Engineering 47 (2012) 209–213

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

Short communication

Municipal wastewater treatment using vertical flow constructed wetlands

planted with Canna, Phragmites and Cyprus
Sohair I. Abou-Elela ∗ , Mohamed S. Hellal
Water Pollution Research Department, National Research Center, Giza, Egypt

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A pilot scale vertical flow constructed wetland unit (VFCW) with a surface area of 457.56 m2 was built
Received 20 February 2012 within the vicinity of a wastewater treatment plant, North Cairo, Egypt. The wetland unit was planted
Received in revised form 23 May 2012 with three kinds of plants namely; Canna, Phragmites australis and Cyprus papyrus. The wetland unit was
Accepted 22 June 2012
fed with primary treated municipal wastewater at influent flow rate of 20 m3 /day and surface loading
Available online 24 July 2012
rate ranged between 26.2 kg BOD ha−1 day−1 and 76.5 kg BOD ha−1 day−1 and a detention time of 7.7 days.
The efficiency of VFCW after two years operation was evaluated in terms of both mass removal and water
Keywords:
quality improvement, both physico-chemically and biologically. The biological analysis was carried out for
Constructed wetlands
Vertical flow
total coliform, fecal coliform, and Escherichia coli. The accumulation of the elements in the plants organs
Wastewater treatment and their uptake with the harvested macrophyte were also measured. The results obtained showed that
Reuse the average removal efficiency of COD, BOD and TSS in the final effluent were 88%, 90%, 92%, respectively
with corresponding residual values of 30.60 mg/l, 13.20 mg/l and 8.50 mg/l. The amount of nutrients accu-
mulated in the plants which represented by total phosphorus and total kjeldahl nitrogen were 32.55 g/m2
and 68.10 g/m2 . Also, significant reduction of total coliform, fecal coliform were achieved. To conclude, the
quality of treated effluent proved that the use of VFCW as a post treatment step is an effective technology
for wastewater treatment and use for irrigation in rural areas and small communities.
© 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Many countries all over the world face water shortage problems,
Egypt is not exempted. It is expected that in the next few decades,
Egypt is going to water shortage. Poor sanitation in Egypt is part of
this problem especially in rural areas, villages and small commu-
nities where only 5% are served by wastewater treatment plants.
However, 95% of rural areas and villages are served by what is so
called “trenches” which is a way just a bottomless cesspool, which
causes environmental and hygienic problems. Disposal of poorly
treated wastewaters from on-site systems serving households and
small communities can lead to hydraulic failure of soil infiltra-
tion and pollution of ground and surface waters with consequent
risks to human and environmental health (Tanner et al., 2012).
The alternative solution for the villages and small communities
are the decentralized treatment systems. These systems include
and not limited to up flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB), septic
tanks, oxidation lagoons, constructed wetlands and others. Con-
structed wetlands (CWs) are effective treatment systems that can
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +20 21223118891; fax: +20 233367319.
E-mail address: sohairela@gmail.com (Sohair I. Abou-Elela).
be very useful in developing countries since they are simple tech-
nology and involve low operational costs (Zuritaa and De Andab,
2009). Constructed wetlands can remove most of pollutants like
pathogens, nutrients, organic and inorganic contaminants as well
as the protection of the public health to prevent transmission of
waterborne diseases (Kivaisi, 2001). Most CWs systems operated
with horizontal flow and can provide a reliable secondary level
of treatment with regard to biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)
and total suspended solids (TSS) (Vymazal, 2009) but frequently
are less effective for nitrogen removal; unless a longer hydraulic
retention time and enough oxygenation are provided (Liu et al.,
2005). Recently, research works were directed toward the vertical
flow constructed wetlands (VFCW) since it is very effective not only
for the removal of BOD and TSS but also for nitrification even at a
high loading rate in a cold climate (Arias et al., 2005, Cooper, 2005;
Prochaska et al., 2007). VFCW systems are intermittently flooded
and drained, allowing air to refill the substrate pores within the
bed (Prochaska and Zouboulis, 2006) and improving, in this way,
the oxygen transfer from the atmosphere to the system. The use
of plants in CWs also serve to stabilize the bed surface, increase
porosity throughout the wetland volume, absorb and store plant
nutrients, prevent channelized flow and improve wetland esthet-
ics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performances of a pilot

0925-8574/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2012.06.044
210 S.I. Abou-Elela, M.S. Hellal / Ecological Engineering 47 (2012) 209–213
Fig. 1. Design of VFCW.
plant vertical flow constructed wetland for the removal of organic
compounds, nutrients and pathogenic microorganisms from a real
municipal wastewater. In addition, the possibility of using the
treated effluent for irrigation purposes was also evaluated.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Description of the site
A pilot plant vertical flow constructed wetland for treating
real wastewater was designed, constructed and operated for dura-
tion of almost two years and still running. The pilot plant was
located within the vicinity of a wastewater treatment plant. The
treatment system included the following successive steps: coarse
screen, oil removal, primary settling tank then a wetland basin.
The total surface area of the basin was 457.56 m2 . The influent flow
rate was 20 m3 /day and the surface loading rate varied between
26.2 kg BOD ha−1 day−1 and 76.5 kg BOD ha−1 day−1 with a deten-
tion time of 7.7 days. The VFCW was fed with influent wastewater
using submersible pump and distributed through a net work of
PVC pipes. The water flow was measured by electromagnetic flow
meter. The flow rate and the run off of the pumps were controlled
using SCADA software. All the main climatic parameters affecting
the CW hydro-balance such as temperature, wind speed and direc-
tion, humidity and atmospheric pressure were also monitored on
daily basis and recorded with Solar Radiation Sensor. Fig. 1 shows
the design of the pilot scale VFCW.
2.2. Plantation
Young plants of Canna and Phragmites australis were planted at
the beginning of winter of 2009, while Cyprus papyrus was planted
in October 2010. The bed was divided into four sections; only
three sections were planted with the three kinds of plants. The
plants were fixed in the bed at a density of four rhizomes per
square meter. At the beginning of spring 2011 Canna and P. aus-
tralis were harvested, while Cyprus was kept as is since it was so
small to be harvested at that time. The plants were cropped approx-
imately 10 cm from the gravel surface. All the harvested plants
were weighed on site. Wet:dry weight ratio was used to estimate
the biomass. The harvested biomass was collected and weighted
and the water content was calculated as well as the concentration
of nutrients. One day prior harvesting, representative samples in
one square meter were analyzed for dry weight and nutrients con-
tents in both Canna and Phragmites plants. However, only nutrients
measurement was carried out in Cyprus.
2.3. Sampling
Wastewater samples were collected on weekly basis from the
inlet and outlet of the bed. Also, different parts of the plants were
collected on monthly basis for analysis. The samples were collected
and analyzed for duration of almost two years.
2.4. Physico-chemical and biological analysis
Physico-chemical and biological analyses were carried out for
raw, treated wastewater and harvested biomass. The biologi-
cal parameters covered total coliforms, Escherichia coli and fecal
coliforms. All the analysis otherwise specified, were carried out
according to Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and
Wastewater (APHA, 2005).
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Characterization of influent wastewater
Analysis of 25 samples of influent wastewater to VFCW indi-
cated that the organic loading rate varied during the period
of this study. The COD ranged between 185 mg/l and 335 mg/l,
while BOD values varied between 59 mg/l and 175 mg/l. The
average suspended solids concentration was 94 mg/l, while the
average concentration of ammonia, TKN and total phosphorus
were 16.7 mg/l, 30.7 mg/l and 3.15 mg/l, respectively. The aver-
age bacterial indicators counts were 2.8 × 107 MPN/100 ml for
total coliform and 2.3 × 106 MPN/100 ml for fecal coliforms and
2.4 × 106 MPN/100 ml for E. coli. Analysis of heavy metals such as
mercury, lead, cupper, cadmium, and chromium indicated that the
concentration each metal did not exceed 0.001 mg/l.
3.2. Efficiency of VFCW for the removal of pollutants
3.2.1. Removal of COD, BOD and TSS
The concentrations of COD, BOD and TSS in the treated efflu-
ent are shown in Fig. 2. The average removal values of both COD
and BOD were 88%, 90%, respectively with corresponding residual
values of 30.6 mg O2 /l and 13.16 mg O2 /l.
The high removal values of COD and BOD may be explained
as in wetland systems, settleable organics were rapidly removed
by deposition and filtration, while the organic compounds were
degraded both aerobically and anaerobically by the heterotrophic
microorganism depending on the oxygen concentration in the bed.
According to the wetland design, the oxygen required for aerobic
degradation can be supplied by diffusion, convection and oxygen
leakage from the macrophyte roots into the rhizosphere. Thus,
treatment efficiency of the constructed wetlands for the removal of
organics was, generally, highly dependent on the oxygen concen-
tration in the bed, the wetland design, the treatment conditions
and the characteristics of the bed medium (Vymazal et al., 1998).
Moreover, the presence of several plant species provides a more
effective distribution of the roots and a more propitious habitat
which encourage the development of a great diversity of micro-
bial communities. Furthermore, the diversity of roots delayed the
wastewater passage through the system which in turn increases
the retention time and as a consequence, the removal efficiencies
(Zuritaa and De Andab, 2009). The average TSS concentration was
8.5 mg/l with a percentage removal of 92%. In addition, complete
removal of TSS in some samples was recorded.
3.2.2. Behavior of various forms of nitrogen
The results depicted in Fig. 3 show that both nitrification and
denitrification occurred during the two years study period. The
average concentration of ammonia decreased from 18.3 mg/l to
7.9 mg/l. This also confirmed by the increase of nitrate concentra-
tion in the treated effluent from 0.12 mg/l to 0.52 mg/l. Also, it is
obvious from the results obtained in Fig. 3 that denitrification pro-
cess took place. The nitrate concentration decreased from 1.3 mg/l
to 0.22 mg/l. it is well known that the sources of NH4 + –N in the
wetlands are ammonification and ammonia originally present in
 S.I. Abou-Elela, M.S. Hellal / Ecological Engineering 47 (2012) 209–213
Fig. 2. Concentrations of COD, BOD and TKN in treated effluent.
the wastewater. NH4 + –N may be removed by nitrification, adsorp-
tion, plant and bacteria uptakes, and volatilization. According to
Reddy and Patrick (1984), volatilization is not expected to have
contribution to this reduction. Brix (1994) also shows that removal
by plant uptake is low. This means that nitrification followed by
denitrification is most probably responsible for NH4 + –N reduction.
Nitrate–nitrogen (NO−3 –N) in the treated effluent could be con-
sidered as indication for nitrification process. The main source of
(NO−3 –N) in the wetlands, in addition to nitrate originally present
in the influent, was due to nitrification and denitrification. The pH
value of the effluent was just above 7, which indicated that the
conditions were suitable for nitrification within the wetland bed.
In an intermittently loaded vertical flow system, oxygenation in
the wetland matrix was increased several folds compared to other
wetland systems, which may result in efficient nitrification pro-
cess. The nitrate produced can subsequently be reduced to nitrogen
gas by biological denitrification if there is readily available carbon
source (Vymazal et al., 1998). The higher nitrification capacities of
the vertical flow wetlands may be attributed to enhanced oxygen
transfer from the atmosphere to the beds (Brix, 1997). Vegetation
might have slightly increased nitrification through the oxygenation
of the substrate. Moreover, the root system might have facilitated
the establishment of a rich and productive community of attached
nitrifiers by providing higher surface area. Great variability in the
TKN removal was observed along the monitoring period. The TKN
concentration in the effluent ranged between 8.6 and 36.4 mg/l
with an average value of 17.8 mg/l. The TKN removal efficiencies
varied between 31% and 70% with an average percentage removal
Fig. 3. Concentrations of NH4 , TKN and nitrate in treated effluent.
211
of 53%. The average TKN removal efficiencies throughout this study
were within the removal range reported in other studies of con-
structed wetlands (Vymazal, 2002).
3.2.3. Removal of phosphorus
The phosphate concentration in the treated wastewater ranged
between 0.4 mg/l and 2 mg/l with an average percentage removal
of 62%. These results were much better than those recorded in
other studies carried out using VFCW (Brix and Arias, 2005). They
reported that only 20–30% removal of phosphate was achieved. The
high removal rate of phosphorus in our study may be attributed to
the long contact time within the wetland (7.7 days) and the use of
three different plants in the same basin which increase the uptake
of phosphorus (Klomjek and Nitisoravut, 2005).
3.2.4. Efficiency of VFCW for the removal of bacterial indicators of
pollution
The geometric mean of the bacterial indicators counts namely;
total coliform (TC), fecal coliform (FC) and E. coli in the treated
effluent were 2.60 × 103 , 1.25 × 103 and 1.11 × 103 MPN/100 ml.
The average removal efficiency of all bacterial indicators varied
between 94% and 99.99%. The removal efficiency of coliform bac-
teria was in good agreement with Soto et al. (1998) and Vymazal
et al. (2000). The high removal rate may be explained by the high
oxygen concentration in the VFCW, as well as the high tempera-
ture (25–30 ◦ C) that causes aerobic environment. Different research
works have demonstrated that anaerobic conditions prolong the
survival of coliforms in constructed wetlands (Decamp and Warren,
212 S.I. Abou-Elela, M.S. Hellal / Ecological Engineering 47 (2012) 209–213
Table 1
Average concentrations of TKN, T.P, heavy metals and bacterial counts accumulated in the roots of the three plants.
Parameters Unit Canna
TKN g/kg 8.96
T.P g/kg 2.6
Heavy metals
Lead mg/kg 0.02
Cupper 2.70
Cadmium 0.38
Nickel 0.06
Chromium 0.08
Biological analysis
Total coliform MPN/100 ml 4.3 × 104
Fecal coliform 2× 102
E. coli 1.6 × 104
2000) and in contrast, aerobic conditions, such as those predomi-
nant in VFCW enhance the removal rate.
3.2.5. Plants uptake and biomass production
Hill and Payton (1998) reported that during the cold win-
ter months a translocation of nutrients from stems to rhizomes
occurred which results in an increase of nutrient content in the
wastewater. For that purpose, plant harvesting must be practiced
in order to remove organic matters and nutrients from the system.
Since the aim of this study is to achieve the highest removal of
pollutants, biomass was harvested after 12 months operation for
Canna and P. australis, while Cyprus was not harvested as it was so
short. The dry biomass of P. australis was 3.26 kg/m2 . This biomass
yield was slightly greater than that reported for the same plant
by Hofmann (1986) and Ennabili et al. (1998). They reported max-
imum dry biomass of 2–3 kg/m2 . In addition, the Canna yield in
this study reached 4.83 kg/m2 compared to 3.125 kg/m2 obtained
by Dennis Konnerupa et al. (2009) for the same plant. The plants
nitrogen and phosphorus uptake were 68.1 g/m2 and 32.55 g/m2 ,
for Canna and 48.6 g N/m2 and 28.91 g P/m2 for Phragmites. This
indicated that Canna was better than Phragmites for nitrogen and
phosphorus uptake. This may be attributed to the fact that Canna
roots were distributed more widely in the bed. The average con-
centrations of TKN, P and heavy metals as well as the bacterial
counts in the roots of the three different plants under considera-
tion are shown in Table 1. The results indicated that Cyprus is much
better for the removal of nitrogen, phosphorus and heavy metals
from wastewater than Canna and Phragmites. Also, bacterial anal-
ysis in the three plants indicated that Canna was more effective
for the removal of microorganisms. However, the residual bacte-
rial counts in the treated effluent slightly exceed the permissible
limits (103 MPN/100 ml) stated in National Regulatory Standards
for wastewater reuse in restricted irrigation (ECP501, 2005).
4. Conclusion
The use of VFCW planted with Canna, P. australis and Cyprus
proved to be efficient technology for the removal of both physico-
chemical and biological pollutants. It was found that the type of
vegetation influenced the removal rate of some pollutants such as
BOD, COD, TSS, N and TP. The presence of diverse species in VFCW
provided a more effective distribution of the root system and a
habitat for more diverse microbial populations and consequently
better removal rates. The plants under investigation survived for
more than 12-months prior harvesting and their development var-
ied according to the type of plant. The physico-chemical characters
of treated wastewater were complying with the National Regula-
tory for treated wastewater reuse in restricted irrigation; however,
slight disinfection is required to remove the residual pathogen in
Phragmites Cyprus Raw W.W mg/l
5.61 19.26 31.3
1.86 2.21 4.7
0.0 0.15 <0.01
1.7 5.64 <0.01
0.0 0.26 <0.01
0.1 0.12 <0.01
0.0 0.29 <0.01
3.6 × 104 1× 104 2.86 × 107
45× 10 2× 102 2.49 × 106
5.1 × 103 2.8 × 102 2.32 × 106
the treated effluent. No odors or insects were detected during the
two years operation of VFCW beside a beautiful landscape view.
Acknowledgements
The authors are very grateful to Consorzio Universitario di
Economia Industriale Manageriale (CUIEM) for their financial and
technical assistance during the course of this study.
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