THE USE OF MACROPHYTE-BASED SYSTEMS FOR PHOSPHORUS REMOVAL : AN OVERVIEW OF 25 YEARS OF RESEARCH AND OPERATIONAL RESULTS IN FLORIDA

Phosphorus removal from wastewaters and surface runoff using macrophyte based systems (MBS) in FLorida. Several factors contribute to increase focus on the use of MBS as no conventional technologies because of their high cost and because MBS typically provide some water storage that can be used as agricultural drainage waters and also because Florida has sufficient places to use that land intensive technology. At the present time, MBS is used for treating domestic effluents, agricultural runoff and eutrophic lake waters. The focus is to lower the phosphorus as low as 10 ug/l. Summarise research over the past 25 years.