ACTUAL EXPERIENCES WITH THE USE OF REED BED SYSTEMS FOR WASTE-WATER TREATMENT IN SINGLE HOUSEHOLDS

Within a longterm project from 1991 to 1996 investigations on the use of constructed wetlands for pollution control in rural areas will be carried out especially regarding the rather strict limiting values for nutrient elimination. The actual discussion is also relevant for very small systems applied to single households. Three reed bed systems - one vertical flow, single stage; one vertical flow double stage (parallel and in-series operation possible); one horizontal flow, double stage - have been constructed in 1991 regarding all the new experiences on optimizing this technology. Some results of inlet and outlet sampling and from sampling points within the bed, of tracer experiments and microbiological and virological testing are presented. In addition a short review on the installation costs is given. In general the experiences of one year of operation seem to prove the opportunity to meet the tightened limits by waste water treatment ir. constructed wetlands.