ABSTRACT
Many of Florida’s lakes, rivers, bays, and estuaries are threatened by development, so state and federal regulatory agencies are discouraging the traditional practice of discharging treated wastewater directly to surface waters. Wastewater treatment plant owners and engineers must develop more creative effluent disposal methods using lower-lying or otherwise less desirable lands while adequately protecting surface water resources. Two innovative designs that meet both these needs have been constructed in Lakeland and Orlando, Florida. They represent the largest known created wetlands used for wastewater treatment/disposal and the first created systems in Florida. A more detailed analysis of wetlands water quality indicates treatment for TN and TP is occurring in the first cells of the wetlands. Concentration limits for water leaving the man-made wetlands (established in state and EPA permits based on background concentrations in adjacent natural wetlands) are 2.3 mg/L TN and 0.2 mg/L TP.
