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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Florence, South Carolina » Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #127335
Title: COPPER AND ZINC ACCUMULATION IN A CONSTRUCTED WETLAND TREATING SWINE WASTEWATER

Author
item Watts, Donald - Don
item Novak, Jeffrey
item Szogi, Ariel
item Stone, Kenneth
item Hunt, Patrick
item HUMENIK, F - NC STATE UNIV.
item RICE, J - NC STATE UNIV.

Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/21/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Constructed wetlands can be important for the treatment of swine waste and may also serve as a sink for heavy metals. An experimental treatment wetland system was established in eastern North Carolina in 1993. The levels of copper and zinc were monitored in several of the wetland cells prior to waste application and continued for five years. Soils were sampled once a year at four depths (5-cm increments) along the flow path continuum. The highest accumulation of plant available (Mehlich 3 extraction) copper (5.6 ug/g) and zinc (14.1 ug/g) was noted at the sampling point closest to the inlet of the wetland cell and levels, generally, decreased with progression along the continuum towards the cell outlet. The highest measured levels of both Mehlich-3 copper and zinc were well below the North Carolina Department of Agricultural's cautionary statement level for most crops. These results would indicate that the accumulation of plant available copper and zinc in constructed wetland treating swine waste had a minimal impact on this created ecosystem.