A Treatment wetland is an engineered sequence of water bodies designed to filter and treat waterborne pollutants

Water pollution

Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies . Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds....

 found in storm water runoff

Stormwater

Stormwater is water that originates during precipitation events. It may also be used to apply to water that originates with snowmelt that enters the stormwater system...

 or effluent

Effluent

Effluent is an outflowing of water or gas from a natural body of water, or from a human-made structure.Effluent is defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as “wastewater - treated or untreated - that flows out of a treatment plant, sewer, or industrial outfall. Generally refers...

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Description

In treatment wetlands aerobic

Aerobic

Aerobic is a word that means "requiring air", where "air" usually means oxygen.Aerobic may also refer to:* Aerobic exercise, prolonged exercise of moderate intensity* Aerobics, a form of aerobic exercise...

 and anaerobic

Anaerobic respiration

Anaerobic respiration is a form of respiration using electron acceptors other than oxygen. Although oxygen is not used as the final electron acceptor, the process still uses a respiratory electron transport chain; it is respiration without oxygen...

 biological processes can neutralize and capture most of the dissolved nutrients and toxic pollutants from the water, resulting in the discharge of clean water.

Types

Types of treatment wetlands include:

• Subsurface wetlands
• Surface wetlands
• Sewage treatment
  Sewage treatment
  Sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants...
  
   - tertiary, secondary, and primary treatment

Best management practices

Many regulatory agencies list treatment wetlands as one of their recommended "best management practices

Best management practice for water pollution

Best Management Practices is a term used in the United States and Canada to describe a type of water pollution control. Historically the term has referred to auxiliary pollution controls in the fields of industrial wastewater control and municipal sewage control, while in stormwater management ...

" for controlling urban runoff

Urban runoff

Urban runoff is surface runoff of rainwater created by urbanization. This runoff is a major source of water pollution in many parts of the United States and other urban communities worldwide.-Overview:...

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See also

• Bioswale
  Bioswale
  Bioswales are landscape elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water. They consist of a swaled drainage course with gently sloped sides and filled with vegetation, compost and/or riprap...
  
  
• Ecological Engineering
  Ecological engineering
  Ecological engineering is an emerging study of integrating ecology and engineering, concerned with the design, monitoring and construction of ecosystems...
  
  
• Ecological sanitation
  Ecological sanitation
  Ecological sanitation, also known as ecosan or eco-san, are terms coined to describe a form of sanitation that usually involves urine diversion and the recycling of water and nutrients contained within human wastes back into the local environment....
  
  
• Groundwater recharge
• Rain garden
  Rain garden
  A rain garden is a planted depression that allows rainwater runoff from impervious urban areas like roofs, driveways, walkways, parking lots, and compacted lawn areas the opportunity to be absorbed...
  
  
• Wastewater garden
• Wetland
  Wetland
  A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
  
   - natural
• Wetland classification
  Wetland classification
  Classification of wetlands has been a problematical task, with the commonly accepted definition of what constitutes a wetland being among the major difficulties. A number of national wetland classifications exit. In 1970s, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance introduced a...
  
  

External links

• EPA Constructed Wetlands resources - Handbook, studies and related resources
• American Society of Professional Wetland Engineers website
• Modular Wetland Systems, Inc.