Each pond was planted with 750 plugs of aquatic plants, one species in each pond. Plants were chosen for their hardiness (all are Alberta native species), ability to adapt to fluctuating water levels, and ease of propagation among other factors. Natural wetlands play an important role in the environment by improving the quality of the water that moves through them. As water makes it way downstream through the series of ponds that make up the constructed wetlands, the quality of the water is changing, and in order to measure this change, sensors have been installed in each pond. They measure parameters such as pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, levels of nitrogen and other nutrients and much more. This information is remotely transmitted and over time will be made available to researchers and to the public.
Aquatic plants play a role in the treatment process. They slow the flow of water allowing sediment to settle to the bottom and keeping the water clear. As they use nutrients in the water to grow they reduce their concentration to acceptable levels. Plants found in wetlands may even remove contaminants such as metals from the water.
In our constructed wetland, different planting approaches have been used. The first two ponds (2 and 3) and the last pond (17) before the Natural Pond have been planted using a mix of native and ornamental plants with an emphasis on displaying the diversity found in aquatic species – different foliage sizes and shapes, attractive blooms, and examples of the different growth habits found. A second planting approach has been used in a set of nine ponds - three series of ponds with three ponds in each. Each pond has been planted with a single species, chosen for their ability to remove materials from the run-off water that flows through them. One series has three carex species (Carex aquatilis, C. lacustris, C. utriculata). The second has three species of bulrush (Scirpus acutus, S. microcarpus, S. validus). The last series has three different genera – horsetail (Equisetum fluviatile), rush (Juncus arcticus) and cattail (Typha latifolia). Each species will be monitored for their performance in the wetland and our challenge will be to keep each pond as a monoculture, avoiding movement of plants between the ponds.