Constructed Wetlands
A manufactured wetland is designed to naturally filter and purify effluent and reduce pollution. This is an extremely “Green” way to handle the wastewater from a building or group of buildings that can contribute to increasing the percentage of Sustainable Credit under the LEED system. An integral component of the growth media mixture is Solite® lightweight expanded shale aggregates. Our product’s unique pore structure contributes to the high exchange of nutrients that helps to clean the effluents. Additionally, beneficial bacteria are able to colonize within the many voids on the surface area of the lightweight aggregate. These bacteria “eat” the other organic compounds as the liquid passes through and around the aggregate.
Solite® can also function as a recharging filter media in subsurface flow for the removal of phosphorus. The P Sorption capacity of both products is greater than other natural aggregate filters. Other benefits include increased hydraulic conductivity over other media. Due to the low bulk density of Solite® (50 pcf), deep root penetration is greatly enhanced allowing for a greater vegetative field establishment in the critical early stages of development.
A remarkably high number of landfills throughout the country do not collect their runoff and it leaches directly into surrounding brooks and streams that eventually empty into our rivers. A manufactured wetland will filter and purify the runoff that is generated, reducing pollution by silently collecting the water leachate, treat it with the use of Solite® and vegetation to discharge a clean effluent.
The manufactured wetland can eliminate pollution and the cost of trucking contaminated water for disposal at a wastewater treatment plant.