ABSTRACT
Constructed wetlands (CW) as a wastewater treatment technology have seen a dramatic increase in use throughout the US in the last several years. Of the over 140 municipal constructed wetlands systems inventoried in the US in March, 1990, by Sherwood Reed under contract to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 89 were in EPA Regions IV and VI, the southeast and southwest. Constructed wetlands have been generally grouped into two basic categories, the simplest being the systems in which rooted aquatic plants are planted in a soil substrate within a constructed earthen basin. The CW system consists of three vegetated submerged bed cells of 2 ha each, 320 m long and 66 m wide. It will be interesting to see how the performance of the Denham Springs system fares as it reaches design flow. The story of CW systems in the southeastern part of the US is obviously not over yet.
