The management and development of constructed wetlands for treatment of petrochemical waste waters in Hungary: 35 years of experience

In Hungary, as elsewhere, an important problem is the adequate treatment of waste waters, and especially of petrochemical waste water. Properly functioning waste water treatment systems, including the constructed wetlands, should produce water quality that is very similar to that of the natural waters.The paper surveys Hungarian constructed wetland types that have been established for waste water treatment in the last forty years, and provides a detailed analysis of the structure and functioning of those reed pond systems that have been constructed for the post-treatment of petrochemical waste waters, and with emergent and/or submerged macrophytic vegetation operate as free water surface systems.