Long-term phosphorus and nitrogen removal processes and preferential flow paths in Northern constructed peatlands

Four treatment peatlands were studied in Northern Finland in order to determine peat P, Al and Fe concentration distributions and to find removal parameters for nutrient modelling. The sites had been under loading for 10-16 years. About 20 peat samples for analyses of oxalate-extractable and total P, Al and Fe were collected from the depth 0-10 cm in each peatland. The peat P concentration ranged from 0.097 mg g−1 to 14 mg g−1 being 1.7 mg g−1on average. P accumulated in preferential flow path areas. Although P concentrations were locally high, DSSP (the index of potential soil P release from peat to water) was very low in all studied peatlands, indicating that peat was not saturated by phosphorus. The results indicate that Al-based precipitation chemicals increase substantially P retention capacity of peatland and maintain a stabile P reduction in spite of varying P loads. The results also show long-term phosphorus accumulation in peatlands polishing municipal wastewater from activated sludge treatment. The regression analyses showed that k-value for N removal depends on N loading and hydraulic loading. The first-order area model together with regression analysis of the rate constant result in a good agreement between observed and calculated nitrogen concentration. The NH4-N loading to the peatland should be below 0.10 mg m2 d−1 in order to achieve a high reduction of 70%.