Phosphorus removal from Everglades agricultural area runoff by submerged aquatic vegetation/limerock treatment technology: an overview of research.
The 1994 Everglades Forever Act mandates the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to evaluate a series of advanced treatment technologies to reduce total phosphorus (TP) in Everglades Agricultural Area runoff to a threshold target level. A submerged aquatic vegetation/limerock (SAV/LR) treatment system is one of the technologies selected for evaluation. The research program consists of two phases. Phase I examined the efficiency of SAV/LR treatment system for TP removal at the mesocosm scale. Preliminary results demonstrate that this technology is capable of reducing effluent TP to as low as 10 microg/L under constant flows. The SAV component removes the majority of the influent soluble reactive P, while the limerock component removes a portion of the particulate P. Phase II is a multi-scale project (i.e., microcosms, mesocosms, test cells and full-size wetlands). Experiments and field investigations using various environmental scenarios are designed to (1) identify key P removal processes; (2) provide management and operational criteria for basin-scale implementation; and (3) provide scientific data for a standardized comparison of performance among advanced treatment technologies.
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Ecological Technologies Department, South Florida Water Management District, West Palm Beach 33406, USA.
DeBusk
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TA
Dierberg
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Chimney
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MJ
Pietro
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KC
Aziz
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D000383:Agriculture; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D005374:Filtration; D005431:Florida; D010316:Particle Size; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000378:metabolism*; D010944:Plants; D011891:Rain; D014872:Water Movements; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control*
D010758:Phosphorus