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Dry season wastewater assimilation by a North Florida hardwood swamp

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Abstract

Approximately 2650 m3/day of secondarily-treated effluent is currently discharged into a 206 ha mixed hardwood swamp located south of Jacksonville, Florida. In the early summer of 1981, a study was conducted to assess (1) whether the swamp was satisfactorily assimilating the present discharge, and (2) whether the swamp ecosystem was suffering significant adverse impacts due to the discharge. Intensive field sampling coincided with a period of extended drought. The study plan included examination of water chemistry and vegetation at the receiving swamp and at four nearby control swamps not receiving secondary effluent. The major outflow of the receiving swamp differed significantly from outflows of the control swamps in concentrations of total nitrogen, nitrate-nitrite nitrogen, total and dissolved phosphorus, and specific conductance. Based on flow measurements and mass balance calculations, the receiving swamp achieved nutrient “removal” rates of 87.0% (26.1 kg/day) for total nitrogen and 62.0% (8.8 kg/day) for total phosphorus. Data indicated that much of this removal occurred through infiltration. Field investigations indicated that swamp vegetation stresses were present at the receiving swamp and at one of the control swamps.

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  1. CH2M HILL, P.O. Box 1647, 32602, Gainesville, FL

    Brian H. Winchester & Thomas C. Emenhiser

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  1. Brian H. Winchester
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  2. Thomas C. Emenhiser
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Winchester, B.H., Emenhiser, T.C. Dry season wastewater assimilation by a North Florida hardwood swamp. Wetlands 3, 90–107 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03160733

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03160733

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