Influence of the flooded time on the performance of a tidal flow constructed wetland treating urban stream water

Highlights: • Clay bricks as an alternative substrate. • Quantification of the phytoextracting capacity of nutrients by A. philoxeroides used as vegetation cover. • Dynamics of bacterial community structure under flooded time variation. • TP adsorption onto clay bricks was relevant under prolonged flooded time. A vertical subsuperficial tidal flow constructed wetland (TFCW) operated under flooded time (FT) variation, was evaluated in the removal of carbonaceous, nitrogenous, and phosphorous matter from urban stream water. The TFCW downflow (117 L) was filled with bricks (44% porosity) and vegetated with Althernanthera philoxeroides (32 plants m⁻²). The TFCW was operated under different flooded times – Stage A (48 h), B (36 h), C (24 h), and D (12 h), organic loading rates of 19.58–43.83 gCOD m⁻² d⁻¹, 3.68–6.94 gTN m⁻² d⁻¹ and 0.93–2.00 gTP m⁻² d⁻¹ and volumetric load rates of 46.8, 58.5, 78.0 and 11.7 L d⁻¹. No significant differences were observed in the removal efficiencies to Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD 66 to 94%), Total Ammonia Nitrogen (TAN 58 to 87%), and Total Nitrogen (TN 53 to 78%) among the stages, and nitrate concentrations lower than 6 mg L⁻¹ in the effluent. High Total Phosphorus removal was obtained in FT of 48 h (TP 79%). Total phosphorus loading rate was a limiting factor in TP removal, which reduced along with the reduction of FT. The nitrifying community was present over time since ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (Nitrosospira) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (Nitrobacter and Nitrospira) were identified in operational stages with variation in relative abundance, but TAN removal efficiency did not show significant differences. There was no change in the denitrifying community structure, indicating that FT did not influence the TN removal. A. philoxeroides was responsible for phytoextraction of 2.1% of TN and 2.7% of TP from the total removed by TFCW. TN removal (65%) was attributed to adsorption in the filtering material and microbial metabolism during the rest time. The findings of this study suggest FT of 12 h to remove COD and TN, and equal to or higher than 48 h to remove TP.