Hydraulic investigation of the impact of retrofitting floating treatment wetlands in retention ponds

This paper describes the laboratory experimental investigations undertaken to analyse the influence of floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) on the hydraulic performance of a stormwater retention pond. Two experimental series were conducted, each focussed on investigating the influence of placing an FTW in a pond with firstly the inflow entering the retention pond from an inlet positioned 0.25 m offset from the longitudinal axis of the pond, and secondly the inlet positioned at the longitudinal axis of the pond. For both series of experiments, tests were undertaken at 1 l/s and 1.5 l/s, and with and without an artificial FTW installed. This study is the first to investigate the hydraulic impact of FTWs and their root systems on the performance of stormwater retention ponds. The results presented in this study suggest that FTWs are a viable method to minimise hydraulic inefficiencies, thereby increasing retention time and optimising hydraulic performance of stormwater retention ponds. The results highlight the importance of plant root characteristics. The optimal arrangement of root length is LR/DP = 0.5, where LR = root length and DP = pond depth. The results also indicate that the spatial variability of vegetation has a significant impact on the hydraulic performance of the pond.