Understanding the Role of Constructed Wetlands in Stormwater Management

Constructed wetlands have been utilized for some time in the treatment of wastewater and have been recognized for the treatment of stormwater runoff and flood protection in the last couple of decades. Constructed wetlands are built to remove sediment and nutrients, primarily phosphorus and nitrogen, from contaminated water. However, with increased urbanization and enhanced climate change, these constructed wetlands need to be managed and their treatment effectiveness monitored and maintained especially at the post-construction phase. In addition, a greater understanding of the role of these systems in the urbanized environment and how they treat wastewater are needed to optimize their performance. As more advanced computer modeling is developed there is a need to ascertain what parameters and how these changes overtime and what skills are required to enable the adoption of constructed wetlands for future planning and management. There has been limited research into constructed wetlands for flood mitigation and with some receiving inflows larger than their design intent, it is necessary to determine if these systems would still be able to treat pollutants. This chapter involves a review of the literature to address these concerns relating to constructed wetlands.