The effect of pre-aeration on the purification processes in the long-term performance of a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland

Different conditions (water level, oxygen supply) prevailing in both beds of the Kodijärve double-bed horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF) constructed wetland (CW) (Southern Estonia; constructed in 1996, total area 312.5 m2, 40 pe) provide the opportunity to compare how different operational methods have altered the efficiency of the purification processes inside the HSSF CW. In summer 2002 a vertical subsurface flow (VSSF) CW (total area 37.4 m2) was added as the first stage of the system. Data from 18 sampling wells installed in Kodijärve HSSF CW from two periods is compared: 1st period—January 2000–April 2002 (before the VSSF CW was built); 2nd period —October 2002–December 2004 (after the construction of the VSSF filter). The VSSF CW has remarkably improved aerobic conditions in both beds of the HSSF. Apart from total phosphorus concentrations in the right bed and nitrate nitrogen concentrations in the outflow of both beds, all of the water quality indicators (dissolved oxygen, total suspended solids, biological oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen, nitrite nitrogen, total nitrogen and total iron) improved after the construction of the VSSF filter. Typically, purification processes in the HSSF CW were dependent on oxygen supply, which was partly influenced by the water level inside the filter beds.