Fuzzy modeling estimation of mercury removal by wetland components

Current design approaches lack the essential parameters required to evaluate the removal of metals contained in waters discharged to constructed wetlands. The generation of these data is laborious and can never include all the potential combinations of various conditions found in nature. The paper proposes to use the fuzzy logic approach as a new methodology for providing supplementary information for the design and operation of constructed wetlands. Fuzzy logic is used to assess the best conditions required for constructed wetland to serve as a sink of metal removal; it is also used to generate the main information on the behaviour of metals (mercury) in wastewater/water in relation to its uptake by plants and adsorption to sediments. The approach of this research can be applied to wetlands and all natural processes where the correlation between them is uncertain. The findings of this research could also be used for environmental impact assessments.