Large scale application of French reed beds: municipal wastewater treatment for a 20,000 inhabitant's town in Moldova

A two-stage vertical flow treatment wetlands system (French reed beds) was realized in 2012–2013 for the Orhei's town in Moldova. The treatment system occupies a total area of about 5 ha and operates in cold climate conditions during winter, with air temperatures below −20 °C. The first 2 years (2013–2015) of treatment performances for this system are presented here, with a particular highlight on the analysis of the commissioning phase and the operative choices taken along this period basing on the observed results. The specific classification of this application of constructed wetlands (CWs) for the primary and secondary treatment of municipal wastewater as a medium-large size system makes this technical report a relevant reference for demonstrating the possible extension to the highest numbers of inhabitants for the common application range of this family of technologies (CWs) for municipal wastewater. The observed performances for organic carbon (both as chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅)), suspended solids and ammonia removals in the whole first operational period consistently satisfied the national limits for discharge in rivers, respectively, with average values of 86%, 96% and 66%. The treated daily flow was measured in the range of 1,000–2,000 m³/d.