In this study, in order to analyze the water purification efficiency according to the influent water conditions of artificial wetlands, the purification efficiency was compared at two points where sewage treatment water flows in and one point where good effluent flows in. As a result of reviewing the results of the analysis of influent and effluent and the removal efficiency, the T-N and T-P removal efficiency was calculated at 54.7% and 77.4%, respectively, for the two points where sewage treatment water was treated, the treatment efficiency of SS 90.8%, BOD 51.1%, TOC 30.6%, T-N 38.8%, T-P 55.3% was shown. As a result, the efficiency of removing pollutants in the artificial wetland was found to be proportional to the concentration of influent water, and in order to create an efficient artificial wetland, it is judged that thorough review and management at the design stage are necessary considering that the removal efficiency of high-concentration contaminated water was high.

Daechung Reservoir has been suffering from severe cyanobacterial blooming periodically due to the water pollutants from the watershed, especially nutrients from nonpoint sources. As a countermeasure, an artificial wetland was constructed to mitigate the pollutant load from the watershed by utilizing the vegetation. We investigated the water quality of the influent and outflow of the wetland during years 2014~2020 to evaluate the performance of pollutant removal through the wetland. Major pollutants (e.g. BOD, COD, SS, T-N, and T-P) were largely reduced during the retention in the wetland while nutrients removal was more efficient than that of organic matters. Pollutant removal efficiency for different inflow concentrations was also investigated to estimate the wetland’s capability as a way of managing nonpoint sources. The efficiency of water treatment was significantly higher when inflow concentrations were above 75th percentile for all pollutant, implying the wetland can be applied to the pre-treatment of high pollution load including initial rainfall runoff. Furthermore, the yearly variation of removal efficiency for seven years was analyzed to better understand long-term trends in water treatment of the wetland. The annual treatment efficiency of T-P was very high in the early stages of vegetation growth with high concentration of inflow water. However, it was confirmed that the concentration of inflow water decreased, vegetation stabilized, and the treatment efficiency gradually decreased as the soil was saturated. The findings of the study suggest that artificial wetlands can be an effective method for controlling harmful algal blooms by alleviating pollutant load from the tributaries of Daechung Reservoir.