e c o l o g i c a l e n g i n e e r i n g 3 5 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 248–257

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Treatment of domestic wastewater in tropical, subsurface

flow constructed wetlands planted with Canna and Heliconia

Dennis Konnerup a,∗ , Thammarat Koottatep b , Hans Brix a

a Department of Biological Sciences, Plant Biology, Aarhus University, Ole Worms Allé, Building 1135, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
b Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand

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

Article history: Constructed wetlands have a good potential for wastewater treatment in developing coun-
Received 18 February 2008 tries due to the simple operation and low implementation costs. Ornamental plants like
Received in revised form Canna and Heliconia are used in the wetlands to increase their aesthetic value and these
16 April 2008 two species were compared in this study. Six pilot scale horizontal subsurface flow con-
Accepted 17 April 2008 structed wetland units were constructed at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) campus
in Bangkok, Thailand, of which three were planted with Heliconia psittacorum L.f. × H. Spatho-
circinata (Aristeguieta) and three with Canna × generalis L. Bailey. The beds were loaded
Keywords: with domestic wastewater in four trials with hydraulic loading rates ranging from 55 to
Domestic wastewater 440 mm d−1 corresponding to nominal detention times between 12 h and 4 days. Both
Constructed wetland plant species grew well in the systems and especially Canna had high growth rates
Tropical (3100 ± 470 g DW m−2 yr−1 ) compared to Heliconia (550 ± 90 g DW m−2 yr−1 ). TSS mass removal
Canna rates were very high with efficiencies >88% even at hydraulic loading rates of 440 mm d−1 .
Heliconia COD mass removal rates varied between 42 and 83% depending on the loading rates. The
Ornamental plants removal rate constants for COD as fitted by the first-order k–C* model were estimated to be
Removal rate coefficients 0.283 and 0.271 m d−1 for Canna and Heliconia beds, respectively (C* = 28.1 and 26.7 mg l−1 ).
First-order model Removals of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) were low compared to the loading rates, but
removal of total-N was higher in the beds planted with Canna than in beds with Heliconia
because of the higher growth rate of Canna. It is concluded that ornamental species like
Canna and Heliconia can be used to enhance the aesthetic appearance and hence the pub-
lic acceptance of wastewater treatment systems in tropical climates. Canna is the preferred
species from a treatment perspective because of its more vigorous growth, but since Heliconia
has an economic potential as cut flowers may be preferred in many cases.
© 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Constructed wetlands (CWs) for wastewater treatment are
potentially a good solution for treating domestic and indus-
trial wastewaters in less-developed countries with warm
and tropical climates (Denny, 1997; Haberl, 1999; Kivaisi,
2001). The advantages of the CW technology are the utilisa-
tion of natural processes, the high process stability and the
cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, the systems are simple to
construct and operate which is a benefit in many develop-
ing countries. The discharge of untreated wastewater from
households and industries is a threat to nature and humans in
developing areas and causes eutrophication of surface waters
and transmission of waterborne diseases, and the situation

∗
Corresponding author. Tel.: +4589424701.
E-mail address: dennis.konnerup@biology.au.dk (D. Konnerup).
0925-8574/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2008.04.018
 e c o l o g i c a l e n g i n e e r i n g 3 5 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 248–257
is getting worse with the rapid urbanisation without proper
sanitation (Denny, 1997). The lack of wastewater treatment
facilities is due to the high costs associated with treatment
and to the lack of effective environmental pollution con-
trol laws or law enforcement (Kivaisi, 2001). Conventional
high-technology wastewater treatment systems are in many
situations not a suitable solution in developing countries
because it is not sustainable to install wastewater systems
which require guaranteed power supply, replaceable spare
parts and a skilled labour for operation and maintenance. Here
it is better to use simple and cost-effective technologies like
CWs for wastewater treatment. Another issue is treatment
requirement. In developed countries the goal is elimination of
all pollutants like pathogens, nutrients, organic and inorganic
chemicals. In contrast, the primary treatment aim in develop-
ing countries is protection of the public health through control
of pathogens to prevent transmission of waterborne diseases
(Kivaisi, 2001). For this purpose CWs are suitable since they can
be efficient in removal of BOD and pathogens whereas removal
of nutrients is often more limited (Kadlec and Knight, 1996).
The plants growing in CWs are the most obvious visual
characteristic of the systems. Many studies have demon-
strated that the plants contribute to water treatment through
both direct and indirect mechanisms and thus are an essen-
tial part of CWs (Brix, 1994, 1997; Tanner, 2001; Stottmeister
et al., 2003; Edwards et al., 2006). The most important func-
tions of the plants are related to their physical effects in
the wetlands. The roots provide a huge surface area for
attached microbial growth, and in temperate regions the
plant litter provides an insulation layer against frost dur-
ing winter. Plants can also facilitate aerobic degradation by
releasing oxygen to the rhizosphere, but oxygen release rates
are difficult to quantify and the overall effect on pollutant
removal is probably varying (Brix, 1997; Langergraber, 2005).
Regarding uptake of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) many
studies in temperate climates have shown that the amount
which can be removed by harvesting is generally insignif-
icant (Tanner, 2001). However, in tropical climates where
the plants grow faster and throughout the year, the uptake
of nutrients can probably contribute to significantly higher
removals of nutrients as has been reported in several stud-
ies (Koottatep and Polprasert, 1997; Greenway and Woolley,
2001; Kyambadde et al., 2004, 2005; Kantawanichkul et al.,
2008). However, if the plants are not harvested the incorpo-
rated nutrients will be released again during decomposition
of the biomass.
Another function of the plants that is not related to treat-
ment performance is to give the wetland a nice appearance:
ornamental plants like Canna and Heliconia increase the aes-
thetics of the wastewater treatment wetland. This function is
emphasized in some of the newly built tropical CWs in Thai-
land, which are designed as park-like areas in the villages to
increase the local people’s awareness of wastewater treatment
(Brix et al., 2007). It is envisaged that the people will show more
interest in the operation and maintenance of the nice-looking
systems, and that this will thus benefit the long-term opera-
tion of the systems. Flowers like Heliconia have an economic
potential as they can be sold in the markets, which is another
benefit. However, there is a need for studies to elucidate how
suitable these tropical, ornamental plants are for use in CWs.
249
Fig. 1 – Schematic diagram of the pilot scale horizontal
subsurface flow constructed wetlands.
The aims of this study were to investigate the biomass
production and nutrient uptake of Heliconia and Canna in
gravel-based subsurface flow CW systems and to compare
their influence on the treatment of domestic wastewater.
Furthermore, an objective was to determine removal rate coef-
ficients for removal of organic matter (COD), total-N (TN) and
total-P (TP) using the first-order area-based k–C* model (Kadlec
and Knight, 1996) since there is a lack of performance data for
calibration of the k–C* model to tropical climatic conditions.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Experimental setup
The study was carried out at the Asian Institute of Technology
(AIT) in Thailand (14◦ 04 N, 100◦ 36 E). The climate is tropical
with high temperatures and high humidity. Six pilot scale hor-
izontal subsurface flow CW units (length; width; depth; 2 m;
1 m; 1 m) prepared from concrete were used. The units were
covered by a clear plastic roof (∼80% transmission of photo-
synthetically active radiation) to prevent dilution effects by
precipitation. The CW units were filled with three different
gravel types (Fig. 1). In the inlet and outlet zones coarse gravel
(Ø 50 mm) was used in order to facilitate distribution and col-
lection of the wastewater, respectively, and the CW filters (total
depth 0.6 m) consisted of a 40 cm layer of medium gravel (Ø
10–25 mm) covered by a 20 cm layer of fine gravel (Ø 2–10 mm).
Three of the units were planted with Heliconia (Heliconia psit-
tacorum L.f. × H. spathocircinata Aristeguieta cv. Golden Torch)
and three with Canna (Canna × generalis L. Bailey cv. Red King
Humbert). All plants were obtained from Kasetsart University,
Bangkok and were c. 0.4–0.6 m at the time of planting. Before
planting, most soil was carefully removed from the roots to
avoid clogging of the system.
2.2. Loading of wastewater
The CW units were loaded with settled domestic waste-
water from the AIT campus which according to Metcalf and
Eddy (2003) can be characterised as a low-strength wastewater
(Table 1). After start-up of the experiments, the systems were
allowed to acclimatise for 2 months before data collection for
this paper was conducted in order to let the plants and the
250 e c o l o g i c a l e n g i n e e r i n g 3 5 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 248–257

Table 1 – Mean (±S.D., n = 5) composition of the domestic wastewater used in the four trials with loading rates of 55, 110,
220 and 440 mm d−1 and results of one-way ANOVA statistics (F-ratios)
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 F-ratio
−1
DO (mg l ) 0.14 ± 0.03 a
0.30 ± b
0.06 0.12 ± 0.07a
0.07 ± a
0.05 14.95***
Temp. (◦ C) 30.8 ± 0.7a 28.5 ± 0.5b 26.0 ± 0.8c 27.1 ± 0.5c 50.02***
pH 7.26 ± 0.04 7.23 ± 0.04 7.20 ± 0.10 7.26 ± 0.03 0.77NS
TSS (mg l−1 ) 47 ± 14 65 ± 31 54 ± 19 50 ± 7 0.64NS
COD (mg l−1 ) 135 ± 18a 136 ± 20a 123 ± 32ab 93 ± 11b 4.44*
TN (mg l−1 ) 27.0 ± 2.9a 25.2 ± 2.0a 22.3 ± 5.2ab 17.4 ± 1.4b 7.13**
NH4 + –N (mg l−1 ) 21.1 ± 0.4a 19.7 ± 1.2a 17.8 ± 4.4a 11.4 ± 1.5b 12.55***
NO3 − –N (mg l−1 ) 1.1 ± 1.0 1.4 ± 0.3 1.2 ± 0.4 1.3 ± 0.2 0.12NS
TP (mg l−1 ) 9.8 ± 1.9a 9.2 ± 0.6a 8.5 ± 1.0ab 6.7 ± 0.5b 5.51*
PO4 3− –P (mg l−1 ) 7.1 ± 0.7a 6.6 ± 0.5a 6.0 ± 1.0a 4.3 ± 0.5b 11.47***

Figures with different letter superscripts in rows differ significantly (P < 0.05). NS: Not significant.
∗
P < 0.05.
∗∗
P < 0.01.
∗∗∗
P < 0.001.

biofilm develop. During this acclimatisation period the load-
ing rate was 220 mm d−1 corresponding to a nominal hydraulic
retention time (HRT) of approximately 1 day calculated by the
equation (Kadlec and Knight, 1996):
pV
HRT =
Q
where p is porosity of the media, V is the volume of the media
and Q is the water flow rate in the inlet. The porosity of the
media was determined at the beginning of the study by pour-
ing a known amount of water into the gravel filled wetland
filters and was estimated to be 0.40.
In order to estimate removal rate kinetics, the performance
data were collected in four trials with different loadings. The
hydraulic loadings in the four trials were selected so they cor-
responded to nominal HRTs of 4 days, 2 days, 1 day and 12 h
according to the above mentioned equation and this gave load-
ing rates of 55, 110, 220 and 440 mm d−1 , respectively. Since
the wetland units differed slightly in size the exact loading
rate was calculated for each unit and adjusted accordingly.
The actual loading rates were measured one time per day and
adjusted to the set-point level if necessary.
The trial with the lowest loading was conducted first and
between each trial the wetland units were allowed to accli-
matise to the new loading rate for approximately 2 weeks
before the treatment performance was measured. Water sam-
ples were taken daily between eight and nine o’clock in the
morning for five consecutive days. Seven water samples were
collected at each sampling: one from the inlet and one from
each of the six outlets. At the same time flow rates in inlet and
outlet were measured for each bed using a measuring cylinder
and a stop watch to be able to calculate the exact loading of
each unit. Evapotranspiration was calculated as the difference
between inlet and outlet flow rates. The variation in evapo-
transpiration during the day was measured in a 48-h period
between trial 2 and 3. Since the wetland units were covered by
a shelter the precipitation was regarded as zero.
2.3. Water analysis
Temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH were measured
immediately after sampling by a DO meter (YSI 550A, Yellow
Springs, OH, USA) and a portable pH meter (Knick Portamess
911, Berlin, Germany). Total suspended solids (TSS), chemical
oxygen demand (COD), ammonium (NH4 + –N), total phos-
phorus (TP) and ortho-phosphate (PO4 3− –P) were analysed
following standard procedures (APHA, 1998). Total nitrogen
(TN) was measured with a TOC–TN analyser (Shimadzu TOC-
VCSN, Kyoto, Japan) and nitrate (NO3 − –N) was analysed using
reduction by cadmium and spectrophotometric analysis fol-
lowing a method by Hach-Lange (14034-99 NitraVer 5).
2.4. Plant analysis
After 10 weeks when the plants had developed a dense veg-
etation in the CW units, a mark was cut in all leaves in
order to determine the aboveground biomass growth. Seven
weeks later all plants were harvested and the newly produced
biomass was separated from old biomass to estimate the
biomass production, and stems were separated from leaves.
All fractions were dried at 70 ◦ C until constant weight. Four
representative plants from each bed were harvested for anal-
ysis of N concentration. Samples from newly produced leaves
and stems were ground and analysed for concentration of TN
by gas chromatography after combustion of 1.8–5.8 mg dried
plant material (Model NA2000, Fisons Instruments, Italy).
2.5. First-order modelling
First-order area-based removal rate constants (k), assuming
exponential removal to non-zero background concentrations
(C* ), were estimated for COD removal, TN and TP. Fitted values
of k and C* were derived from the following equation (Kadlec
and Knight, 1996):
Co − C∗ −k
ln =
Ci − C∗ q
where k is the area-based first-order removal rate constant
(m d−1 ), q is the hydraulic loading rate (m d−1 ), Co is the outlet
concentration (mg l−1 ), Ci is the inlet concentration (mg l−1 ),
and C* is the irreducible background wetland concentration
(mg l−1 ). This equation was rearranged in order to conduct the
 e c o l o g i c a l e n g i n e e r i n g 3 5 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 248–257 251

fitting procedure:
Table 2 – Estimated growth rates (mean ± S.D.) of
∗ ∗ −k/q aboveground biomass and nitrogen uptake in Canna and
Co = C + (Ci − C ) e
Heliconia
The fittings were performed using Statgraphics Plus ver- Canna Heliconia
sion 4.1 (Manugistics, Inc., Scottsdale, USA). For fittings of TN Leaf growth (g DW m−2 yr−1 ) 1542 ± 184 341 ± 50
and TP removal rate constants background concentrations of Stem growth (g DW m−2 yr−1 ) 1586 ± 301 204 ± 46
1.5 mg l−1 for TN and 0 mg l−1 for TP were used since out- Leaf N conc. (% DW) 3.54 ± 0.60 2.68 ± 0.28
let concentrations were far from expected background levels Stem N conc. (% DW) 1.90 ± 0.49 1.51 ± 0.60
which made fitting of C* impossible. The selected background N uptake (g m−2 yr−1 ) 84.7 12.2

concentrations are typical for CWs (Kadlec and Knight, 1996).

2.6. Statistical analyses

Comparisons of inlet and outlet concentrations were per-

formed using one-way and two-way ANOVA. Data were tested
for homogeneities of variances using Cochran’s C-test, and
if necessary, log-transformed to ensure homogeneity of vari-
ance. The Tukey procedure was used for multiple post hoc
comparisons. Mass removal rates versus mass loading regres-
sion lines were compared by testing for differences in slopes
and intercepts with the y-axis. The level of significance was
˛ = 0.05 in all cases. The software used was Statgraphics Plus
version 4.1 (Manugistics, Inc., Scottsdale, USA).

Fig. 2 – Diurnal variation in evapotranspiration rates of

3. Results
constructed wetlands planted with Canna and Heliconia
measured during a 48 h period.
3.1. Plant growth and evapotranspiration

Both Canna and Heliconia grew well in the CW units with-

out symptoms of toxicity or nutrient deficiencies. However, yearly aboveground biomass production would be 3128 and
Canna developed more vigorous and grew significantly faster 545 g m−2 yr−1 for Canna and Heliconia, respectively (Table 2).
(P < 0.001) than Heliconia. Extrapolating from the aboveground Also the evapotranspiration rates differed between the two
biomass production during the 7-week period, the estimated species (Fig. 2); Canna had a very high rate of evapotranspira-

Fig. 3 – Mean (±S.D.) outlet pH and concentrations of TSS, COD and TP from constructed wetlands planted with Canna or
Heliconia at different loading rates (55, 110, 220 and 440 mm d−1 ). The horizontal bars above the columns show mean inlet
concentrations from Table 1.
252 e c o l o g i c a l e n g i n e e r i n g 3 5 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 248–257
Fig. 4 – Concentrations of organic N, NH4 –N and NO3 –N in the inlet and outlets from constructed wetlands planted with
Canna or Heliconia at different loading rates (55, 110, 220 and 440 mm d−1 ).
tion during daytime with rates as high as 28 mm d−1 around
noon, whereas Heliconia generally had lower rates with peaks
around 8 mm d−1 . Integration of the curves showed that the
mean evapotranspiration rates on a diurnal basis were 8.3 and
3.0 mm d−1 for Canna and Heliconia, respectively.
3.2. Inlet and outlet concentrations
Outlet pH was significantly affected by both species (P < 0.001)
and loading rate (P < 0.001) and there was a significant inter-
action between species and loading in the ANOVA (P < 0.001).
Generally, pH was higher in the outlet from beds planted with
Heliconia and more so at low HLR (Fig. 3). Inlet concentrations of
TSS were low and were in the range of 47–65 mg l−1 in the four
trials (Table 1). Mean TSS outlet concentrations varied between
1.6 and 6.2 mg l−1 giving removal efficiencies of 87–97% based
on concentrations and depending on the HLR (Fig. 3). There
was no significant effect of species on outlet TSS concen-
trations but there was a significant effect of HLR (P < 0.001).
The COD levels in the inlet were low for domestic wastewater
(Table 1) and as with TSS there was only a significant effect
of HLR (P < 0.001) and no effect of species on COD outlet con-
centrations. Mean COD removal rates based on concentrations
varied between 41 and 80% depending on HLR in the four trials
(Table 1 and Fig. 3).
Both HLR and species affected TN and NH4 –N outlet con-
centrations (P < 0.01) and for NH4 –N there was a significant
interaction between species and HLR. TN and NH4 –N out-
let concentrations were generally lower in beds with Canna
than in beds with Heliconia (Fig. 4). Outlet concentrations were
lowest at the highest HLR of 440 mm d−1 , which also had
the lowest inlet concentration (Table 1). Outlet concentrations
of NH4 –N were higher than inlet concentrations at HLRs of
220 and 440 mm d−1 but organic-N outlet concentrations were
lower than inlet concentrations at all HLRs (Fig. 4). Inlet and
outlet NO3 − –N concentrations were generally low (Table 1 and
Fig. 4) and there was no effect of species but a significant effect
of HLRs (P < 0.001). No net nitrification occurred in the beds.
Total-P and PO4 –P concentrations were significantly lower in
outlets from Canna planted beds than in outlets from Helico-
nia beds (P < 0.01). There was also a significant effect of HLR
(P < 0.001), but inlet concentrations also differed between the
trials (Table 1).
3.3. Mass removal rates
Mass removal rates of TSS were very high in all beds (Table 3
and Fig. 5) even at the highest HLR of 440 mm d−1 , and strong
linear correlations between mass loadings and mass removal
rates were observed for both species. The regressions lines for
the two species did not differ significantly showing that plant
species did not affect removal of TSS. Mass removal rates of
COD were as high as 20 g m−2 d−1 at the high loadings and did
not differ between the two species (Fig. 5). At mass loadings up
to c. 10 g m−2 d−1 the data points lie close to the line represent-
ing total removal. As for TSS the plant species did not affect
COD removal as there was no significant difference between
the regression lines.
Mass removal rates of TN differed, however, significantly
between species (Fig. 5) although the relationships between
mass loadings and removals were weak for both Canna and
Heliconia. There was a significant higher removal in beds with
Canna than in beds with Heliconia. The regression lines in Fig. 5
have similar slopes but significantly different intercepts with
 e c o l o g i c a l e n g i n e e r i n g 3 5 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 248–257 253

Table 3 – Mean (±S.D., n = 15) mass removal efficiencies (%) of TSS, COD, TN and TP in the four trials with loading rates of
55, 110, 220 and 440 mm d−1
HLR 55 mm d−1 110 mm d−1 220 mm d−1 440 mm d−1

Canna Heliconia Canna Heliconia Canna Heliconia Canna Heliconia

TSS 96 ± 2 97 ± 1 95 ± 3 95 ± 3 93 ± 2 92 ± 1 88 ± 2 88 ± 2
COD 83 ± 6 79 ± 6 73 ± 9 72 ± 7 59 ± 14 58 ± 15 42 ± 5 42 ± 5
TN 37 ± 6 14 ± 8 19 ± 5 11 ± 4 13 ± 4 6 ± 3 6 ± 1 4 ± 2
TP 35 ± 9 13 ± 9 23 ± 4 7 ± 4 12 ± 3 6 ± 5 10 ± 5 6 ± 4

the y-axis (P < 0.001). The beds with Canna generally had a
higher TN mass removal but the difference was more obvious
at the low loadings where there is almost no overlap between
the data points for Canna and Heliconia (Fig. 5). The mass
removal of TP showed a similar pattern to that of TN with weak
correlations between mass loadings and mass removals for
both species and with higher mass removal rates in beds with
Canna (P < 0.001). Here was also found larger removal efficien-
cies in beds with Canna compared to Heliconia at low loadings
(Table 3).
was 12 g N m−2 yr−1 . The mean removal rates for N based
on water quality analyses were 0.57 and 0.28 g m−2 d−1 for
Canna and Heliconia, respectively, and the mean uptake and
assimilation into the aboveground biomass were 0.23 and
0.03 g m−2 d−1 , respectively. Hence, plant uptake into above-
ground biomass of Canna and Heliconia accounted for 41 and
12%, respectively, of the N removal recorded during the exper-
iments.
3.5. Removal kinetics

3.4. Plant nitrogen uptake
The N concentration in leaves of Canna was higher than
in leaves of Heliconia (P < 0.001) but there was no difference
in stem N concentrations and both species had higher N
concentration in leaves than in stems (P < 0.001). By multi-
plying N concentrations and growth rates it was estimated
that 85 g N m−2 yr−1 could be removed through aboveground
biomass harvest of Canna whereas the value for Heliconia
The mean outlet concentrations of COD, TN and TP were cal-
culated for each bed in each trial and these data (4 trials * 3
beds per species; 12 data points per fit) were fitted to the k–C*
model (Table 4 and Fig. 6). For all three parameters the data
from Heliconia beds fitted better to the k–C* model than beds
with Canna. However, estimated k-values for Canna beds were
higher for all parameters, particularly for TN and TP removal
rate constants. The modelled background concentrations of
COD were 28.1 and 26.7 mg l−1 for Canna and Heliconia, respec-

Fig. 5 – Mass removal rates of TSS, COD, TN and TP as a function of mass loadings for constructed wetlands planted with
Canna or Heliconia. The solid and dashed lines are regression lines for Canna and Heliconia, respectively. The dotted lines
represent total removal.
254 e c o l o g i c a l e n g i n e e r i n g 3 5 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 248–257

Fig. 6 – Fitted curves based on the first-order area-based k–C* model for COD, TN and TP. Each data point represents five
measurements. Equation parameters and coefficients of determination are shown in Table 4.

produced a vegetation cover with flowers that gave the

Table 4 – First-order area-based removal rate constants
(k), background concentrations (C* ) and coefficients of wastewater treatment systems a nice appearance. Especially
determination (R2 ) for COD, TN and TP removal in the Canna seems to grow well in the domestic wastewater, but
pilot scale constructed wetlands based on the k–C* model Heliconia is generally considered a more valuable species than
Canna Heliconia Canna, as the flowers can be used in flower-decorations.
Thus, ornamental plants can be used to increase the aes-
COD TN TP COD TN TP thetic appearance of CWs and thereby the public perception of
k (m d−1 ) 0.283 0.0158 0.0149 0.271 0.0093 0.0068 wastewater treatment for the benefit of the water treatment,
C* (mg l−1 ) 28.1 (1.5) (0) 26.7 (1.5) (0) as has already been done at some locations in Thailand (Brix
R2 0.75 0.80 0.62 0.87 0.94 0.88 et al., 2007).
The present study showed that it is not necessary to plant
Constant background concentrations of 1.5 mg l−1 for TN and
the macrophytes with soil in gravel beds. The Canna and Heli-
0 mg l−1 for TP were used in the calculations.
conia, which had soil removed from the roots before planting
in this study, grew well and reproduced vegetatively without
tively, which was close to the lowest measured level in the difficulty in the gravel substrate. However, the root systems
effluent (Fig. 3). were mostly developed in the upper 15 cm of the substrate and
did not penetrate to the bottom of the filters. It has also been
4. Discussion shown by Belmont and Metcalfe (2003) that calla lilies (Zant-
edeschia aethiopica) are able to grow well in a coarse crushed
Both species of ornamental plants tested in this study (Heli- rock substrate.
conia and Canna) grew well in the gravel-based subsurface The growth of the plants affects many treatment processes
flow CW units when loaded with domestic wastewater and as well as the water balance of the systems. The rates of evap-
 e c o l o g i c a l e n g i n e e r i n g 3 5 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 248–257
otranspiration, which is the sum of the physical evaporation
from the bed surface and the transpiration by the plants, were
relatively high particularly for the beds planted with Canna.
The evapotranspiration rates varied diurnally with highest
rates during the daytime and lower effluent volumes than
during the night at equal loading rates. The higher evapotran-
spiration rates in Canna beds were probably due to the higher
biomass per area of these beds as compared with Heliconia
beds, and the differences in performance found between the
species in this study were probably attributed to differences in
biomass between the species. A high evapotranspiration rate
in wetlands can contribute to a substantial water loss which in
turn results in a longer retention time for the remaining water
and hence more time for degradation of pollutants. At the
lowest loading rate (55 mm d−1 ) the evapotranspiral water loss
increased retention by 8 and 3% for beds planted with Canna
and Heliconia, respectively. Furthermore, plant transpiration
can drive a “transpiration pump” since the water that is lost
to the atmosphere through the leaves is taken up by the roots.
In surface flow wetlands this water flow “pumps” water from
the water column into the bed substrate where degradation
occurs. In horizontal subsurface flow CWs the transpiration
pump may contribute to a flow of water upwards to the upper
layer of the bed substrate where most of the roots are located
(Headley et al., 2005). If the roots provide improved conditions
for nitrification/denitrification processes this upward flow will
facilitate N removal by coupled nitrification–denitrification.
Canna had approximately a six times higher biomass pro-
duction than Heliconia. At the time of the final harvest, the
Canna had formed a dense stand where the plants were shad-
ing each other and the growth rate probably had levelled off
compared to that at the beginning of the experiment where
the plant cover was less dense. In contrast, the Heliconia with
their lower growth rate still had plenty of space for growth at
the end of the experiment. This shows that different harvest
intervals are needed for different species. The Canna could
probably have had a higher growth and biomass production
if they had been harvested more often, whereas Heliconia, if
given more time to produce a denser vegetation, could have
produced more biomass per area.
The beds with Canna removed more N than the beds with
Heliconia, and as expected this species effect was more pro-
nounced at low loading rates where plants play a greater
relative role in the removal of nutrients (Brix, 1997). The
mass removal regression lines showed only weak relation-
ships between N removals and loading rate, so when TN
loading was increased the CWs only showed small increases in
mass removal rates (Fig. 5). The N mass removal rates recorded
of approx. 0.6 and 0.4 g N m−2 d−1 for Canna and Heliconia,
respectively, are, therefore, probably close to the maximum
capacity for N removal in this type of CW system. At the high
loading rates, the NH4 + levels were higher in the outlets than in
the inlet because of mineralisation of organic N in the systems
(Fig. 3). If a significantly higher removal of N is desired, a solu-
tion could be to use a vertical flow system with recirculation
which has been shown to give good performance regarding N
removal (Arias et al., 2005).
Both species had higher N concentration in leaves than
in stems since the N-rich proteins involved in photosynthe-
sis are located in the leaves. The amount of N that could be
255
removed through plant harvest was c. 85 and 12 g N m−2 yr−1
for Canna and Heliconia, respectively. For comparison, the
emergent macrophytes Typha domingensis, Eleocharis sphace-
olata and Schoenoplectus validus in a surface flow CW in
a tropical climate had aboveground growth rates of 4000,
3000 and 1000 g DW m−2 yr−1 and N uptake rates of 54.0,
40.5 and 14.5 g N m−2 yr−1 , respectively (Greenway, 2003). In
temperate climates the amount of N that can be removed
through plant uptake and subsequent harvest is low and can
often be neglected (Tanner, 2001; Stottmeister et al., 2003;
Langergraber, 2005). However, in tropical climates where the
plants grow faster due to the warm temperatures and all year
round, plant uptake can play a significant role in N removal.
Koottatep and Polprasert (1997) showed that plant uptake
accounted for about 50% of the N removal in tropical CWs
with Typha angustifolia, and different harvest intervals were
tested to increase N removal. The optimal harvest interval was
8 weeks where 66–71% of the removed N was contained in
the plant biomass, corresponding to an uptake rate as high
as 266 g N m−2 yr−1 . In other studies of Typha, plant uptake
accounted for 22–26% at loadings of 1.68–2.26 g N m−2 d−1 (Lim
et al., 2001) corresponding to the lowest loadings in this study.
Altogether, these results show that in tropical climates a con-
siderable amount of N can be removed via harvesting of the
plant biomass and that the amount is highly dependent on the
species. However, permanent removal through plant uptake
requires that the plants are harvested regularly and that the
harvested biomass is removed from the system.
Nitrogen can also be removed in CW systems by volatil-
isation of NH3 to the atmosphere. In the present study,
volatilisation could be neglected as the pH generally remained
<7.6, and since the system had a subsurface water flow (Kadlec
and Knight, 1996). Other removal processes of N are nitri-
fication and subsequent denitrification and N accumulation
in the system. In the present study, the higher growth rate
and N concentration of Canna could account for some of the
higher N removal rates recorded in beds planted with Canna as
compared to beds with Heliconia. When plant uptake to above-
ground biomass was subtracted from the removal rates, Canna
beds had a mean N removal rate of 0.34 g N m−2 d−1 whereas
Heliconia beds had a removal of 0.25 g N m−2 d−1 . This could be
because of higher roots biomass in Canna or it could indicate
that the Canna roots provide better conditions for nitrifica-
tion/denitrification processes.
Some removal of P occurred in the experiments with higher
removals in beds with Canna than in beds with Heliconia and
the greatest difference at low loading rates. The mass removal
regression lines for TP had significantly different intercepts
with the y-axis indicating higher removals in Canna beds than
in Heliconia beds. Thus, the plant species play a role in the
removal of P. Other studies also show that plants remove P
from the wastewater through plant uptake, but the quantity
is often small compared with the loading rates (Tanner, 2001;
Browning and Greenway, 2003; Bojcevska and Tonderski, 2007).
However, in tropical climates plant uptake may contribute sig-
nificantly to P removal particularly at lightly loaded wetlands.
Kyambadde et al. (2004) showed that plant uptake accounted
for 89% of TP removal in beds planted with Cyperus papyrus
whereas in beds planted with Miscanthidium violaceum the per-
centage was only 31%. Akratos and Tsihrintzis (2007) found
256 e c o l o g i c a l e n g i n e e r i n g 3 5 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 248–257
that planted beds had 40% higher removal of TP compared to
unplanted beds. Thus, plants can contribute to P removal but
the quantitative significance of the plant removal is very vari-
able and depends on loading rates, plant species and climate,
among others. Binding to the media is usually considered the
main mechanism for P removal in CWs (Arias et al., 2001). We
did not quantify the amount of P removed by plant uptake in
this study, but we assume that a large fraction of the P that
was removed was through binding to the bed substrate. The
bed media was not selected based on high P binding capacity,
so the P removal rates would probably decrease after a period
of operation. If an efficient and sustainable removal of P is
to be achieved in a CW system, the best solution is probably
to install a separate filter unit with a high P binding capacity
material, which can be changed when saturated with P, or to
add Al or Fe-based precipitation chemicals to the wastewater
(Brix et al., 2001).
The removal of TSS was very efficient at all loadings and
there was no effect of plant species. This confirms that solids
are mainly removed by a physical filtration mechanism and
settling where the plants play a minor role. Other stud-
ies did also find no difference in removal of TSS between
planted and unplanted beds (Tanner et al., 1995; Thomas et
al., 1995; Manios et al., 2003; Lee and Scholz, 2007). How-
ever, Karathanasis et al. (2003) found twice as high removals
of TSS in vegetated systems compared to systems with no
plants and concluded that the plant roots could contribute
to a significant filtration in subsurface flow CWs. Manios et
al. (2003) found that beds with gravel performed better con-
cerning TSS removal than beds with soil, sand and compost.
In the present study, we used coarse gravel without fine par-
ticles. In such a system the solids will build up within the
pore spaces of the media over time (Tanner et al., 1998),
and this may lead to decreased hydraulic conductivity and
can eventually cause clogging problems (Kadlec and Knight,
1996).
The wastewater used in the present study had relatively
low concentrations of COD which may be due to high degra-
dation rates in the wastewater collection system and in the
settling tank because of the constant high temperatures in the
tropical climate. Although the influent wastewater was dilute
and high hydraulic loadings were applied, the removal of COD
was still efficient in the CWs. Even at the high loading rate
where the nominal HRT was only 12 h, the mean mass removal
rate of COD was 42% for both species. Other studies comparing
planted and unplanted beds have shown no or only little differ-
ence in removals of COD and BOD between the beds (Coleman
et al., 2001; Lim et al., 2001; Belmont and Metcalfe, 2003). This
is in contrast to the results reported by Tanner et al (1995)
which showed that removal of BOD was significantly higher
in planted beds than in unplanted beds at loading rates in the
range 3–17 g m−2 d−1 . Akratos and Tsihrintzis (2007) found a
significant higher removal of COD and BOD in beds with cat-
tail (Typha latifolia) compared to unplanted beds, whereas beds
planted with common reed (Phragmites australis) did not show
a higher removal than unplanted beds. It was suggested that
the difference could be due to the more vigorous root system
of cattail. These results suggest that plants can play a signif-
icant role in the removal of organic matter but also that the
plant effect is usually small and depends on the species. In
this study no difference in removal of COD was found between
beds planted with Canna and Heliconia.
The removal rate constants for COD were estimated to be
0.283 and 0.271 m d−1 for beds planted with Canna and Helico-
nia, respectively. This is in the range (0.06–1.00 m d−1 ) reported
for horizontal subsurface flow CWs by Rousseau et al. (2004).
The C* background concentrations for COD in the k–C* model
were found to be 28.1 and 26.7 mg l−1 for Canna and Heliconia,
respectively, which confirmed the good removal of COD in the
systems since typical COD background values for wetlands are
in the range 30–100 mg l−1 (Kadlec and Knight, 1996). We also
estimated removal rate constants for TN and TP, even though
we realize that removal of these nutrients probably cannot be
modelled by the first-order model. For TN and TP the k-values
were considerable higher for beds with Canna compared to
Heliconia. The k–C* model generally fitted the data well with
R2 values up to 0.94. The first-order model assumes that the
wetland has plug flow and steady state conditions which is
usually not the case. Another drawback of the model is that
k and C* normally depends strongly on the hydraulic loading
rate (Kadlec, 2000) and this should be considered when rate
constants and C* are used as a design tool. However, despite
its drawbacks the model is at present one of the most used
design tools and seems to be the state-of-the-art for designing
CW systems (Rousseau et al., 2004).
5. Conclusions
The tropical ornamental species Canna and Heliconia grow well
in gravel-based horizontal subsurface flow CW systems fed
with domestic sewage, and thus can potentially be used to
enhance the aesthetic appearance and hence the public accep-
tance of wastewater treatment systems. The systems have
efficient removals of COD and TSS even at hydraulic loading
rates as high as 440 mm d−1 . However, removals of TN and TP
are generally low in this kind of system implying that sub-
surface flow CW systems have limited use if nutrient removal
is required. Plant uptake is a significant removal process for
nutrients, and only in lightly loaded systems can this be suf-
ficient to secure low effluent concentrations. As Canna grows
faster and can remove more nutrients than Heliconia, Canna
is probably the preferred species from a treatment perspec-
tive. However, since Heliconia has an economic potential as cut
flowers they may be preferred in many cases. There are, how-
ever, many different species and cultivars of both Canna and
Heliconia, and further studies are needed to assess possible
differences between these when used in CW systems.
Acknowledgement
This project was financially supported by a grant from WWF
and Aase and Ejnar Danielsens Foundation, to whom the
authors are very grateful.
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