The Long-Term Study of the Surfactant Degradation in a Constructed Wetland

A horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland was studied with respect to its capability to remove surface active compounds from municipal wastewater. The long-term aspect (five years) of the study is emphasized. The degradation efficiency reached 82.3 and 98.5% in the case of anionic and nonionic surfactants, respectively. All data were processed using multivariate statistical analysis. The removal efficiency of anionic surfactants depended mainly on the flow rate of the influx (multiple R-2 of 0.300). A significant effect of redox potential was observed in the case of nonionic surfactants (multiple R2 of 0.812). No systematic decrease of the surfactant degradation efficiency was observed. The constructed wetland can serve as a suitable natural alternative to clean the wastewater generated by small communities.