2. Material and methods
The wetland systems were implemented in dairy facilities in the
city of Frederico Westphalen, southern Brazil (latitude 27210
33”
south and longitude 53230
40” west, altitude 566 m), producing on
average 140 L of milk per day. All wastewater produced in the
milking parlor flowed down by gravity into a storage pond (SP)
which served as primary treatment. After going through this unit
the wastewater flowed into an equalizer tank, from which a
fraction was then transported by gravity into the HFCW, and the
other portion pumped into the VFCW. The wetlands operated in
parallel for the purposes of comparison of performance of both
systems. Fig. 1 presents the layout of the studied treatment plant.