Nutrient Removal from Drainage Waters with Systems Containing Aquatic Macrophytes
- Resource Type
- Authors
- L. R. Sinclair; R. B. Forbes
- Source
- Transactions of the ASAE. 23:1189-1194
- Subject
- Eichhornia crassipes
geography
geography.geographical_feature_category
biology
Eichhornia
Najas
Environmental engineering
biology.organism_classification
complex mixtures
Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
Swamp
Macrophyte
Environmental science
Water quality
Najas guadalupensis
Water pollution
- Language
- ISSN
- 2151-0059
WATER quality parameters were measured at the inflow and outflow of three types of treatment systems for nutrient-enriched agricultural drainage water. The systems were a natural swamp, a 16.2 ha reservoir with Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms and a 0.40 ha reservoir containing Najas guadalupensis (Spreng.) Magnus. The Najas system was the most effective and the swamp system the least effective for removing nutrients. The aerobic Najas system was the most effective for removing phosphate and ammonia N, and the anaerobic Eichhornia system was the most effective for removing nitrate N. Periodic harvesting of the systems is necessary for op-timum removal of nutrients. A combination of plant systems may be more effective than single plant systems.