Domestic
Wastewater to Wetlands Program
Waldo Wetlands
Project
The
Waldo Wetlands Project is a
collaborative effort of the City
of Waldo, the Suwannee River Water
Management District, the DEP, the USEPA, 104(g)(1) Operator Outreach
Training Program, the University of Florida Center for Wetlands and
the State of Florida Department of Forestry and is coordinated by the
University of Florida Center for Training, Research and Education for
Environmental Occupations (UF/TREEO).
The
purposes of this project are to design, construct and manage a man-made
wetland for tertiary wastewater treatment for the City of Waldo WWTP. It is envisioned that the Waldo Wetlands Project will provide
additional benefits beyond this primary purpose, which include: protection of the headwaters of
the Santa Fe River, a designated Outstanding Florida Water by
eliminating unwanted discharges; an ecological enhancement within
the Santa Fe River watershed by providing a natural habitat for
a diversity of valued wildlife, a nursery for aquatic plants to be
used by other wastewater or stormwater facilities, a wetlands display and training
area for local schools, colleges and universities, a training area for operators of
advanced natural wastewater treatment facilities, and a nature walk and birdwatching
area to be used by the citizens of Florida. As a matter of
fact, Waldo WWTF recently won the EPA National Award for Most Improved
Plant! The man-made
wetland cells went on-line in May of 1999 with growth monitoring
and management period to extent for two years after that.
Scope
of the Waldo Wetlands Project:
The
goal of the design was to convert three existing percolation ponds to
effective wetland treatment cells with minimal alteration to the existing
structure. Water depth and flow routing is controlled in each cell
with man-made berms and culverts. At design flow rate of 85,000 GPD
depth of water in each treatment cell is expected to be approximately 12
inches, resulting in a 20-day hydraulic retention time. The estimated
treatment performance for the man-made wetlands, using a first-order areal
model with predictive reaction rate constants (Kadlec and Knight 1996), is
as follows:
| Parameter |
Influent
Concentration
(mg/L) |
Est.
Background
Concentration
(mg/L) |
Estimated
Outflow
Concentration
(mg/L) |
| BOD |
20 |
2 |
2.05 |
| TSS |
20 |
3 |
5.00 |
| TN |
10 |
1.5 |
1.69 |
| TP |
5 |
0.1 |
0.71 |
These predictions are contingent upon
establishing a viable and healthy wetland plant population throughout the
treatment cells, as the biota is crucial to system performance.
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Estimated
Project Budget:
| Construction |
$22,3000 |
| Conceptual
Design, Planting, Monitoring and Management (during construction) |
$14,200 |
| Materials
(e.g. plants) |
$12,000 |
| Miscellaneous |
$ 2,000 |
| |
| Total |
$50,500 |
The
preceding text and photos were taken from a report prepared by
John Juston, an Environmental Engineering graduate student at the
University of Florida, Edward Toby of the TREEO Center and Teresa
Frame of the DEP.
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