CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS FOR WASTE-WATER TREATMENT IN THE CZECH-REPUBLIC THE FIRST 5 YEARS EXPERIENCE

The first full-scale constructed wetland (CW) for wastewater treatment in the Czech Republic was built in 1989. By the end of 1991 only thre e more CW had been put into operation. An inventory survey in 1994 rev ealed the presence of 41 constructed wetlands in operation or in build ing. All CW in the Czech Republic use the horizontal subsurface-flow c onfiguration. With few exceptions, all systems have been designed for the secondary treatment of domestic or municipal sewage. The treatment area of vegetated beds ranges between 18 and 4493 m(2) and population equivalent ranges between 4 and 1100. Common reed (Phragmites austral is) is the most frequently used plant cover. The treatment efficiency is very high for organics (77-98% for BOD5, 59-91% for COD) and suspen ded solids (77-99%). The removal efficiency for nitrogen and phosphoru s varies widely among systems and is generally lower than 60%. Copyrig ht (C) 1996 IAWQ. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.