Hamburg, Germany

Built in 1984, the Kickuth Engineered Wetland in Hamburg, Germany treats effluent from a toxic landfill site which is contaminated with cyanide, arsenic, heavy metals, aromatic hydrocarbons, chlorinated aromatics and other substances.

The leachate is collected through a drainage system and fed into the wetland on an adjacent area of land. An extended hydraulic residence time (approximately 4.8 days) was used to treat the highly contaminated waste. Once treated, the purified water can be safely discharged into a local watercourse.

The wetland system is able to effectively treat the high fluctuations in flow rates and chemical loadings for this application.