REDUCTION OF NON-POINT SOURCE POLLUTION IN THE YONG’AN RIVER BY CONSTRUCTED WETLAND BASED ON 9 YEARS OF MONITORING

Abstract

● The primary pollutants of Yong’an River are total nitrogen and nitrate● Constructed wetland can effectively remove nitrate and phosphorus● Plant decay reduces removal efficiency for ammonium and organic matter The agricultural and livestock activities surrounding the rivers flowing into the lakes have caused non-point source pollution, leading to excessive amounts of nutrient salts in downstream rivers. Introducing river water into constructed wetlands along river course has proven to be an effective solution for decreasing nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loads. This paper reports 9 years of monitoring the Yong’an River and its surrounding constructed wetlands in the upper reaches of Erhai Lake, located in Yunnan Province, China. This study analyzed the main types of pollutants in the river, and evaluated the removal efficiency of pollutants by the constructed wetlands. The findings indicate that total nitrogen (TN) and nitrate nitrogen (NO3–-N) are the primary pollutants in the Yong’an River, which exhibit variation throughout the year corresponding to the alternating wet and dry seasons. Although constructed wetlands are effective in removing NO3–-N and P, their efficacy in removing ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) and organic pollutants is limited. This limitation can be attributed to the lack of timely disposal of aquatic plant residues. This research contributes to the understanding of the potential issues that may arise during the extended use of constructed wetlands and provides solutions to address them.

Keywords

• inflowing rivers|surface-flow constructed wetland|nutrients|long-term monitoring