Early-Year Performance of the Sihwa Constructed Wetland for Stream Water Treatment

A prototype surface flow constructed wetland was built in the upstream area of Sihwa reclaimed tidal lands to improve the water quality of Lake Sihwa by treating severely polluted stream water. In this study, we monitored hydrology, macrophyte (Phragmites communis Trin,) growth, and water quality in the Banwol and Donghwa wetlands to evaluate their performance during the initial period after the completion of wetland construction, The average removal efficiency( $\%$ ) in each wetland was relatively low compared with the performance data from the North America Wetland Treatment System Database (NADB), which mainly includes urban sewage-treatment wetlands. However, the average removal rates per unit area ( $g/m^{2}/day$ ) were 0.72, 0.72 and 0.51 (BOD), 2,04, 2.46 and 0.70 (SS), 0.89, 0.43 and 1.09 (TN) and 0.02, 0.02 and 0.02 (TP) in the Banwol and Donghwa wetlands and NADB, respectively. The overall performance of the Banwol and Donghwa wetlands was within the expected range of the wetland system processes contributing the reduction of the pollutant load to Lake Sihwa during the initial period of wetland operation. Considering the low influent concentration, high hydraulic loading rate, and insufficient macrophyte growth since the wetland was constructed, better performance is expected if an improved operational scheme is adopted.