Nutrient Accumulation in Typha latifolia L. and Sediment of a Representative Integrated Constructed Wetland Atif Mustafa & Miklas Scholz Received: 28 August 2010 / Accepted: 1 December 2010 / Published online: 24 December 2010 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 Abstract This paper investigates the role of plants and sediment in removing nutrients from wastewater being treated in a representative integrated con- structed wetland (ICW). It discusses the role of plants and sediment in removing nutrients from an ICW treating agricultural wastewater for more than 7 years. More nitrogen and phosphorus were stored in wetland soils and sediments than in plants. The first cell had the highest depth of sediment accumulation (45 cm). Over the 7-year operation period, the accretion rate was approximately 6.4 cm/year. With respect to maintenance, desludging of the first wetland cell of the ICW system appears to be necessary in 2011. An average of 10,000 m 3 per year of wastewater entered the ICW. Approximately 74% (780 kg) of the phosphorus and 52% (5,175 kg) of the nitrogen that entered the wetland system was stored in the wetland soils and sediments. Plants stored a small fraction of nutrients compared to soils (<1% for both nitrogen and phosphorus). This study demonstrates that soils within a mature wetland system are an important and sustainable nutrient storage component. Keywords Nitrogen . Phosphorus . Mature wetland . Accretion . Vegetation . Soil 1 Introduction In addition to water quality improvement, wetland plants also have various physical and ecological functions such as transpiration, particulate trapping and flow impedance, while the ecological functions include human use values and wildlife habitat enhancement (Kadlec and Wallace 2009; Scholz 2006). In free water surface constructed wetlands, vegetation influences the treatment mechanisms by reducing water column mixing; hence, it increases sedimentation, and also provides surface area for biofilm attachment (US EPA 2000; Wallace and Knight 2006). Karathanasis et al. (2003) reported higher biochemical oxygen demand and suspended solids removal in planted compared to unplanted systems. Moreover, wetland plants utilise nitrogen and phosphorus for their growth and reproduction. In this way, a portion of nutrients in the water column is transferred to plants, contributing to water quality improvement by reducing nutrient concentrations of the wastewater flowing through the wetland system (Scholz and Hedmark 2010). Moreover, cycling and Water Air Soil Pollut (2011) 219:329–341 DOI 10.1007/s11270-010-0710-8 A. Mustafa : M. Scholz Institute for Infrastructure and Environment, School of Engineering, William Rankine Building, The King’ s Buildings, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JL Scotland, UK M. Scholz (*) Civil Engineering Group, School of Computing, Science and Engineering, The University of Salford, Newton Building, Salford M5 4WT England, UK e-mail: m.scholz@salford.ac.uk