Constructed Wetland Treatment Train

Wetland Treatment Train

Inflow rate 1.2

Slow inflow = long residence time in each zone. Fast inflow (storm surge) rushes water through before it can be treated.

Wetland size 1.0×

Scales each zone's effective treatment capacity — an undersized wetland can't hold water long enough even at moderate flow.

Treatment zones built

Fewer built zones = fewer pollutant types actually get treated, regardless of flow speed.

Zones

1 · Sedimentation (solids)

2 · Reed roots (nitrogen)

3 · Substrate (phosphorus)

4 · UV / microbial (pathogens)

Outlet readout

Pollutant	In	Z1	Z2	Z3	Out

–

How it works

Each zone removes pollutants by first-order kinetics: the longer the water stays in contact with a zone's roots, microbes or substrate, the more of that zone's target pollutant is degraded or bound. Residence time in a zone is its effective length divided by flow speed.

C_out = C_in · e^(−k·t)
t = zoneLength / flowSpeed

Inflow rate — higher flow means less residence time per zone, so less of each pollutant gets removed before the water moves on.
Wetland size — scales each zone's effective treatment capacity; an undersized wetland gives less removal even at a fixed flow rate.
Zones built — an unbuilt zone passes water through untreated for that pollutant, no matter how slow the flow is.
Each zone mainly removes one pollutant type (its specialty), with small secondary effects on the others — mirroring how real constructed wetlands stage settling, root-zone denitrification, substrate phosphorus sorption and UV/microbial disinfection in sequence.

Residence time / zone: –

Murky / polluted water Clear / treated water

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