Abstract
Pilot study was performed to examine the feasibility of the pond system for further polishing of treatment wetland effluent from December 2000 to June 2001. The wetland system used for the experiment was highly effective to treat the sewage during the growing season, but it was less effective and its effluent was still high to discharge to the receiving water body. Therefore, the wetland effluent may need further treatment to prevent water quality degradation. Pond system could be used to hold and further polish the wetland effluent during the winter season and ots feasibility was evaluated in this study. Additional water quality improvement was apparent in the pond system during winter season, and the pond effluent could be good enough to meet the effluent water quality standards if it is properly managed. Timing of the pond effluent discharge appears to be critical for pond system management because it is a closed system and whole water quality constituents are affected by physical, chemical, and biological pond environments. Once algae started to grow in mid-April, constituents in the pond water column interact each other actively and its control becomes more complicated. Therefore, upper layer of the pond water column which is clearer than the lower layer my need be discharged in March right after ice cover melted. In the experiment, water quality of the upper water column was markedly clear in March than ant other times probably because of freezing-thawing effect. The remaining lower water column could be further treated by natural purification as temperature goes up or diluted with better quality of wetland effluent for appropriate water uses. This study demonstrated the feasibility of pond system for subsequent management of wetland effluent during the winter season, however, more study is needed for field application.
