Background

Constructed wetland is one of the natural methods of municipal and industrial wastewater treatments with low initial costs for construction and operation as well as easy maintenance. The main objective of this study is to determine the values of indicator bacteria removal, organic matter, TSS, ammonia and nitrate affecting the wetland removal efficiency.

Results

The average concentration of E. coli and total coliform in the input is 1.127 × 10¹⁴ and 4.41 × 10¹⁴ MPN/100 mL that reached 5.03 × 10¹² and 1.13 × 10¹⁴ MPN/100 mL by reducing 95.5% and 74.4% in wetland 2. Fecal streptococcus reached from the average 5.88 × 10¹⁴ in raw wastewater to 9.69 × 10¹² in the output of wetland 2. Wetland 2 could reduce 1.5 logarithmic units of E. coli. The removal efficiency of TSS for the wetlands is 68.87%, 71.4%, 57.3%, and 66% respectively.

Conclusions

The overall results show that wetlands in which herbs were planted had a high removal efficiency about the indicator pathogens, organic matter, LAS detergent in comparison to a control wetland (without canes) and could improve physicochemical parameters (DO, ammonia, nitrate, electrical conductivity, and pH) of wastewater.