Environ Monit Assess (2017) 189: 164
DOI 10.1007/s10661-017-5857-y
Modeling of constructed wetland performance in BOD5
removal for domestic wastewater under changes in relative
humidity using genetic programming
Vanitha Sankararajan & Nampoothiri Neelakandhan &
Sivapragasam Chandrasekaran
Received: 18 September 2016 / Accepted: 15 February 2017 / Published online: 15 March 2017
# Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017
Abstract Despite the extensive use of constructed wet-
land (CW) as an effective method for domestic waste-
water treatment, there is lack of clarity in arriving at
well-defined design guidelines. This is particularly due
to the fact that the design of CW is dependent on many
inter-connected parameters which interact in a complex
manner. Consequently, different researchers in the past
have tried to address different aspects of this complexity.
In this study, an attempt is made to model the influence
of relative humidity (RH) in the effectiveness of BOD5
removal. Since it is an accepted fact that plants respond
to change in humidity, it is necessary to take this param-
eter into consideration particularly when the CW is to be
designed involving changes in relative humidity over a
shorter time horizon (say a couple of months). This
study reveals that BOD5out depends on the ratio of
BOD5in and relative humidity. An attempt is also made
to model the outlet BOD5 using genetic programming
with inlet BOD 5 and relative humidity as input
parameters.
Keywords Constructed wetland . Relative humidity .
BOD5 removal . Genetic programming . Apparent
temperature
V. Sankararajan (*) : N. Neelakandhan : S. Chandrasekaran
Center for Water Technology, Department of Civil Engineering,
Kalasalingam University, Krishnankovil, Srivilliputtur,
Virudhunagar District, Tamil Nadu, India
e-mail: svanithacivil@gmail.com
Introduction
Wastewater treatment by constructed wetlands (CWs)
has gained popularity and is emerging as a potential
alternative to conventional treatment methods such as
activated-sludge systems (Shelef et al. 2013). The qual-
ity of treated water is judged based on the BOD5 value
of the effluent. The amount of oxygen consumed by
bacteria to decompose active organic matter into simple
compounds is called biochemical oxygen demand
(BOD). In standard test, a 300-ml BOD bottle is used,
and sample is incubated at 20 C for 5 days; hence, it is
cited as BOD5. Light shall be excluded from the incu-
bator to prevent algal growth that may produce oxygen
in the bottle (Priya et al. 2012). Many studies confirmed
that CWs effectively reduce BOD5 (Pan et al. 2012;
Vymazal and Kropfelova 2011; Steer et al. 2002; Villar
et al. 2012; Christopher et al. 2012; Calheiros et al.
2007; Mina et al. 2011; Rai et al. 2013). However, full
scale applications are still limited due to a number of
process related challenges such as (a) the complex in-
teraction of plants, microorganisms, soil matrix, and
substances in the wastewater; (b) changes in climatic
conditions and its effect on pollutant removal efficiency
of the CW system; and (c) the loading rate/retention
time (Zhang et al. 2010; Haiming Wu et al. 2015,
Stottmeister et al. 2003; Tomenkoa et al. 2007). As
observed by Langergraber (2008), CWs can be consid-
ered to be like figurative black boxes which treat water.
Though many experimental studies have been carried
out, there is lack of consensus on influence of operational
parameters, unit parameters, and meteorological
164 Page 2 of 10 Environ Monit Assess (2017) 189: 164

Bastviken et al. (2009)

Calheiros et al. (2007)

parameters on effective functioning of CWs. For instance,

Solano et al. (2004)

Chang et al. (2007)

while Ayaz (2008) found that BOD removal is directly
proportional to increase in hydraulic residence time (HRT),

Ayaz (2008)
Reference
the works reported by Calheiros et al. (2007) indicate there
is no significant direct correlation. The work of others
(Trang et al. 2010, for instance) indicates that with increase
in organic loading, there is a greater efficiency in BOD5

No significant BOD removal is observed when HLR is

removal. Table 1 summarizes the wide variations reported

If hydraulic load increases, BOD removal decreases.

when HLR increased from 200 to 1200 L/m2/day.

Only slight decreases were found in BOD removal
in the past in selection of the size of CWs, the loading rates,

No significant BOD5 removal is observed when

retention time, etc.

(i) Significant relationship between percentage

of removal and hydraulic application rate.
(ii) Longer retention time removal is higher.
Similarly, Table 2 presents the wide variations
adopted in the choice of plants, operating horizon of
the CW, the frequency of sampling, and percentage of
BOD removal. Villar et al. (2012) attempted vertical

HLR is increased by 3 times.

flow constructed wetland (VFCW) because it possesses
greater oxygen transfer capacity. Similarly, size and
shapes of constructed wetland also vary. Babatunde
et al. (2010) adopted circular constructed wetland,

by 2 times.
whereas others report adopting rectangular constructed

Observation

increased
wetland (Zhang et al. 2010; Christopher et al. 2012;
Solano et al. 2004), and yet others discussed only the
area of constructed wetland without being specific about
the shape (Villar et al. 2012; Mina et al. 2011). Studies

200 to 1200 L/m2/day

have been conducted with operating horizon as short as

4.8 to15.6 m3/day

4 weeks to 1 year or more. BOD5 removal is also seen to
vary from about 30 to over 90% with inlet BOD5 as low
as 30 mg/l to as high as 1088 mg/l.
3 cm/day
6 cm/day
3 m3/day
6 m3/day
21 l/min
61 l/min

The foregoing discussions clearly indicate the diffi-

HLR

culties in arriving at well-defined guidelines on design

and operation of CWs. This calls for more extensive

and 1.3 m depth

9 m 9 m (81 m2
studies to address the existing issues as well as issues
that are yet to receive sufficient attention. Each 6.5 m 8m
7.5 m 20 m
7.5 m 20 m

Many studies concerning influence of weather on the

6.8 days
3.4 days
1.5 days

each)
removal of BOD5 in CWs have been carried out
3 days

3 days
1 day
HRT

(Karathanasis et al. 2003, Steer et al. 2002, Solano

Table 1 Effect of HLR and HRT in BOD5 removal

et al. 2004). Karathanasis et al. (2003) conducted exper-

iments with different macrophytes (single as well as
6 wetland units with different plants

Integrated vertical flow constructed

polyculture) over a temperature range of almost 0 to

Subsurface Horizontal flow CW
Four beds each having size of

Four serially connected FWS

30 C covering an entire year. The treatment efficiency

is found to be the best during summer months while
18 wetlands each 22 m2

winter period showed poor performance. Changes in

temperature also affect the microbial efficiency. Steer
Tank dimension

20 m 2 m

et al. (2002) observed a decrease in microbial activities

wetland

during spring season. Most of the studies relating the

influence of weather on treatment efficiency of CWs
HSSF
SF

focused on variation in temperature. To the authors

knowledge, there is no specific study on influence of
S. No.

other climatic parameters such as relative humidity

1

5
2

(RH), sunshine, and wind speed. In this study, an

Table 2 Frequency of sampling in different types of constructed wetland

S. Types of constructed wetland Dimension of CW Plant Operation of Frequency of BOD value BOD removal (%) References
Environ Monit Assess (2017) 189: 164

no. CW sampling (mg/L)

1 Aerated planted CW 3 m 0.3 m 1.2 m Not mentioned 1 year Monthly 2 samples 285.2 40.2 Up to 94.4 in Zhang et al. (2010)
Planted CW aerated
Aerated unplanted CW planted filter
Non aerated unplanted
2 HSSF 462 m2 Phragmites austraulis 1 year Monthly sampling 90 33 61 Mina et al. (2013)
3 Four stage novel CW Diameter-9.5 cm Phragmites austraulis 91 days 30 no of readings 392.1 90.6 7.5 Babatunde et al.
Depth = 0.6 m (2010)
4 Subsurface flow CW 0.59 0.33 0.37 m Cyperus haspan 4 weeks 10 no of sample 686 29.853.8 Christopher et al.
(2012)
5 Subsurface flow CW 4 beds each Cattail 18 months Monthly sample 327 93 in summer Solano et al. (2004)
20 m 2m Reed season
6 Subsurface horizontal flow 6 wetland units each Canna indica 17 months Not mentioned 1000 88 4158 Calheiros et al. (2007)
CW Area = 1.2 m2 Phragmites australis
Depth = 0.6 m Stenophrum
secundatum
Iris pseudacorus
Unvegetated control
7 VFCW Area = 20 m2 Scirpus alternifolios 12 week Weekly study 30 84.9 Villar et al. (2012)
Depth = 0.8 m
Page 3 of 10 164
164 Page 4 of 10
attempt is made to study the influence of change in RH
on BOD5 removal. In order to exclusively study the
effect of RH change, the experimental period is so
chosen that the temperature variation during the period
is negligible.
It is also desired to mathematically model the relation-
ship between RH and outlet BOD5. Many works have
been reported in the past on modeling of CW process
using regression techniques including Artificial
Intelligence (Brix 1994; Knight et al. 1993; Reed and
Brown 1995; Vymazal 1988; Akratos et al. 2008; Yalcuk
2013, and Tomenkoa et al. 2007). In the last one decade,
the success of evolutionary algorithm-based regression
models in modeling complex natural processes has been
demonstrated (Sivapragasam et al. 2015; Park et al. 2008;
Sivapragasam et al. 2012). In this study, genetic program-
ming (GP) is chosen as the modeling tool based on its
ability to evolve physically more meaningful models when
compared to other conventional regressions models.
Study area description
The study area is located at the foothills of the Western
Ghats in Virudhunagar District of the State of Tamil Nadu,
India (latitude 9.5733676 N and longitude 77.689401 E).
Being situated in a semiarid region, the temperature in the
study area remains more or less constant throughout the
year. In order to better simulate the influence of RH alone,
the study period is chosen from 20.09.2014 to 20.10.2014
during which temperature varies in the range of 32.835.8
C while RH varies between 40 and 70%. The study area
receives scanty rainfall with an average of 811 mm
annually, the bulk of which is received during the North
East monsoon in the months of October, November, and
December.
Since the time constants of certain microbial and
physiochemical reactions range between seconds and
hours Rousseau et al. (2002), a total of 11 samples are
collected during the study period in order to better
capture the effect of variations in RH.
Experimental setup: pilot scale constructed wetland
Generally, poor removals are attributed to microbial
breakdown of carbonaceous compounds being limited
by low oxygen availability (Solano et al. 2004). In
treating many types of wastewater, a VFCW is reported
Environ Monit Assess (2017) 189: 164
to possess greater oxygen transport ability than horizon-
tal subsurface flow beds (Pan et al. 2012, Villar et al.
2012). Consequently, for this study, a VFCW of size
2 m 1 m 1 m is constructed (Fig. 1). The treatment
system consist of (from bottom to top): 30-cm-thick
gravel bed (with about 1020 cm size coarse gravel),
about 50-cm-thick sand layer (particle size between
75 and 4.75 mm) and about 10-cm-thick local soil.
Non woven geo-textile layer is placed between gravel
layer and sand layer. The purpose of geo-textile layer is
to prevent clogging of gravel layer with sand. Unifor-
mity coefficient (Cu) for native soil and sand is found to
be 2.8 and 3.94, respectively.
Phragmites austraulis and Typha latifolia are partic-
ularly found to be effective in treating human and ani-
mal derived wastewater (Shutes 2001). Phragmites
austraulis is taken for this study as it is one of the
invasive plants in the study area and is planted at every
0.2 m distance in the CW system.
Genetic programming
Genetic programming (GP) is very similar to genetic
algorithm (GA), being an evolutionary algorithm based
on Darwinian theories of natural selection and survival
of the fittest. However, GP operates on parse trees,
rather than on bit strings as in a GA, to approximate
the equation (in symbolic form) that best describes how
the output relates to the input variables. The algorithm
considers an initial population of randomly generated
programs (equations), derived from the random combi-
nation of input variables, random numbers, and func-
tions. The functions can include arithmetic operators
(plus, minus, multiply, divide), mathematical functions
(sin, cos, exp., log), logical/comparison functions (OR/
AND), etc., which have to be appropriately chosen
based on some understanding of the process. This pop-
ulation of potential solutions is then subjected to an
evolutionary process and the Bfitness^ (a measure of
how well they solve the problem) of the evolved pro-
grams are evaluated. Individual programs that best fit
the data are then selected from the initial population.
The programs that best fit are selected to exchange
part of the information between them to produce better
programs through Bcrossover^ and Bmutation^, as used
in GAs (to mimic the natural reproduction process).
Here, exchanging the parts of best programs with each
other is called crossover, copied exactly into the next
Environ Monit Assess (2017) 189: 164
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of
VFCW
Primary
Treated
Sewage
generation is called reproduction and randomly chang-
ing programs to create new programs is called mutation
(Koza 1992). The user must decide a number of GP
parameters before applying the algorithm to model the
data, such as population size, number of generations,
crossover, and mutation probability. The programs that
fitted the data less well are discarded. This evolution
process is repeated over successive generations and is
driven towards finding symbolic expressions describing
the data, which can be scientifically interpreted to derive
knowledge about the process being modeled
(Sivapragasam et al. 2010). Discipulus tool is used to
implement GP.
Methodology
(a) Pumping of sewage: The domestic sewage after
primary treatment is pumped from sewage treat-
ment plant to the VFCW.
(b) Sampling and analysis: The plants are allowed to
grow from the month of August to the mid of
September. Sampling and analysis are started after
40 days of plant growth (when a height of 62 cm is
reached) and the study is completed when the plant
height reached about 100 cm.
Fig. 2 Block diagram for GP
case study 1
Page 5 of 10 164
Local Soil
Sand
Geotextile Membrane
Gravel Outlet
(c) BOD5 analysis: BOD5in and BOD5out have been
measured in VFCW during experimental period.
(d) Collection of meteorological parameters: Meteoro-
logical parameters such as RH and air temperature
(T) are collected from the nearby meteorological
station for the study period. In order to get a clear
picture about the influence of RH, experiments are
conducted with other operational parameters such
as [hydraulic loading rate (HLR), HRT, wastewater
temperature] kept almost constant.
(e) Modeling studies: GP is applied for two different
case studies (Figs. 2, and 3). The first case study
uses BOD5in and RH as the inputs to the model
while the second case study uses apparent temper-
ature (Ta) and BOD5 in as the inputs. Ta is the
perceived temperature equivalence caused by the
combined effects of RH and T and can be estimated
using standard charts and tables. Table 3 shows the
training data used for modeling of BOD5out.The
percentage of training, testing, and validation data
in GP modeling is kept as about 50, 25, and 25%,
respectively.
(f) Training of GP: Mathematical functions such as
addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, com-
parison, and trigonometric operators are used for
evolving suitable mathematical model. Exponential
function is not included in the modeling as the BOD
RH
VFCW
164 Page 6 of 10 Environ Monit Assess (2017) 189: 164

Fig. 3 Block diagram for GP Ta

case study 2

VFCW

removal process is not expected to be exponentially Results and discussions

dependent on the input parameters. It is to be noted
that the selection of proper mathematical functions Table 4 shows experimental results of CW. An analysis
affect the quality of modeling. is presented below on the BOD5 removal efficiency with
change in RH followed by modeling of BOD5.

(a) Influence of relative humidity variation in BOD5

removal efficiency

Performance measure
As seen from the Table 4, on an average, RH varies in
RMSE value is taken as the performance measure to the range 45 to 55% during the first phase of the study
check the performance of GP as shown in Eq. (1). period whereas it increases to 55 to 65% during the next
phase. This increase in RH with almost constant tem-
perature is mainly because of precipitation during that
s period. A closer insight reveals that there are two dis-
1 n  2
RMSE X m i X s i 1 tinct spell of almost constant humidity viz., during
n i1
22.09.14 to 25.09.14 with an average RH of 50% and
during 10.10.14 to 14.10.14 with an average RH of 60%
with a maximum of 65%. Clearly, there is a reduction in
where X is any variable that is being modeled; the the BOD5 removal with this increase in RH. The spells
subscripts m and s represent the observed and simulated of intermediate rise and fall in the RH value may not be
values. given absolute significance due to the fact that the plant

Table 3 Training data used for BOD5out model

Data Case study 1 Case study 2

BOD5in (mg/l) RH (%) BOD5out (mg/l) BOD5in (mg/l) Apparent temperature (TaC) BOD5out (mg/l)

Training 130 50 82.4 130 39.9 82.4

122 52 71.0 122 38.9 71.0
120 51 68.0 120 39.2 68.0
126 46 68.0 126 38.4 68.0
128 53 82.0 128 37.7 82.0
Testing 128 65 82.4 128 45.1 82.4
127 62 83.2 127 44.2 83.2
132 60 79.5 132 42.0 79.5
Validation 132 53 80.0 132 41.2 80.0
118 46 72.0 118 40.2 72.0
125 52 70.4 125 38.9 70.4
Environ Monit Assess (2017) 189: 164 Page 7 of 10 164

Table 4 Experimental results of constructed wetland and its surrounding environment

S. Date BOD5in BOD5out BOD5 removal Plant height Increase of plant Relative Temperature
no. (mg/L) (mg/L) (%) (cm) height (%) humidity (%) (C)

1 20.09.2014 118 72.0 39.3 62. 0 1.6 46 35.3

2 22.09.2014 122 71.0 41.8 65. 0 6.6 52 33.7
3 24.09.2014 125 70.4 43.7 67. 0 9.8 52 33.7
4 25.09.2014 120 68.0 43.3 67. 0 9.8 51 34.0
5 30.09.2014 126 68.0 46.0 72. 0 18.0 46 34.1
6 08.10.2014 128 82.0 35.9 81. 0 32.8 53 32.8
7 10.10.2014 128 82.4 35.6 84. 0 37.7 65 36.0
8 11.10.2014 127 83.2 34.5 86. 0 41.0 62 35.8
9 14.10.2014 132 79.5 39.8 89. 0 45.9 60 34.7
10 18.10.2014 130 82.4 36.6 94. 0 54.1 50 34.6
11 20.10.2014 132 80.0 39.4 97. 0 59.0 53 35.1

metabolism takes some time to adjust to the variations in
weather conditions.
It may be argued that during these two spells of
investigation, the inlet BOD5 also increased by 6 mg/L
in the second spell when compared to the first spell (on
an average), and hence, this variation may affect the
result. However, it can be explained that the variation
in inlet BOD5 is very small. Further, the reported works
of the previous researchers (Mina et al. 2011; Trang
et al. 2010) indicate that BOD5 removal is likely to
increase with increase of inlet BOD5 concentration. This
apparent contradiction can be attributed to change in RH
influencing the BOD5 removal. The previously reported
studies do not give any detail about the prevailing
weather conditions.
It has to be noted that the sampling was done after
every few days. The RH values used in the study are the
average RH on the particular day of study. As mentioned
in earlier, since the time constants of certain microbial
and physiochemical reactions range between seconds
and hours, it is assumed that the microbial and physio-
chemical reactions are complete within 24 h and the RH
used in the study corresponds directly to the day in
which BOD5in was measured. Hence, experimental ob-
servations due to time lag in the biological response to
changes in RH will not introduce any significant error.
As observed from Table 4, it can also be concluded that
there is no correlation between the plant growth stage (in
terms of plant height) and the BOD5 removal after the
plant height has reached about half its total height.
(b) Modeling of BOD5out with GP: case I
Akratos et al. (2008) have critically examined the
limitations of first-order model and proposed an ANN

Table 5 Modeling equation for different types constructed treatment wetlands according to different authors

References Types of Input Output Equation

CW

Brix (1994) HSSF Operational parameter (influent BOD) Effluent Cout = (0.11 Cin) + 1.87
BOD
Knight et al. (1993) HSSF Operational parameter (influent BOD) Effluent Cout = (0.33 Cin) + 1.4
BOD
Griffin et al. (1999) HSSF Operational parameter (waste water temperature Effluent Cout = 502.20 exp.(0.111 T)
T) BOD
Vymazal (1988) HSSF Operational parameter (influent BOD) Effluent Cout = (0.099 Cin) + 3.24
BOD
Akratos et al. (2008) HSSF Operational parameter (HRT, T) Effluent RBOD HRT
22:8
T HRT
BOD

Cin and Cout: influent and effluent concentrations (mg BOD/L)

164 Page 8 of 10
response curve-based model mapping BOD5out to HRT
and wastewater temperature. Table 5 summarizes the
attempts made by previous researchers in developing
BOD5out model as an alternative to first-order model. As
seen from the Table 5, only a limited number of studies
take weather factors into account in the modeling. In this
study, GP is chosen in lieu of ANN due to its superiority,
particularly in its ability to evolve mathematical models
without pre-defined functional form unlike the conven-
tional regression equations.
BOD5out is modeled with inlet BOD5 and RH as
inputs and is functionally represented as
BOD5out f BOD5in ; RH 2
The GP is run with a population size of 500. The
optimal cross over rate and mutation rate are arrived at
as 95% and 0.02 respectively after trial and error. The
final form of the evolved model is shown in Eq. (3).
   
2cos 0:38 BOD25 in
BOD5out 0:61 *BOD5in 3
RH
where BOD5in = inlet BOD5 (mg/L), BOD5out = outlet
BOD5 (mg/L), and RH = relative humidity (%).
A comparison of measured BOD5out and that obtain-
ed from GP is given in Fig. 4 for the validation data. The
RMSE is found to be 2.85 mg/l.
As seen from Eq. (3), BOD5out is found to depend on
the ratio BOD5in and RH. Apart from arithmetic opera-
tors, other functions such as exponential and trigono-
metric functions were also included in the GP modeling
in order to allow full flexibility in the development of
the model. Since the BOD5 removal process is not an
Fig. 4 Comparison of predicted 90
and observed BOD5out with RH
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 2
Environ Monit Assess (2017) 189: 164
exponential model, the exponential term does not appear
in the equation. However, the presence of cosine func-
tion can be interpreted to represent the complex process
of BOD5 removal in the presence of weather conditions.
(c) Modeling of BOD5out with GP: case II
Sometimes, the combined effect of temperature and
RH is reflected by the term Bapparent temperature (Ta)^,
which gives a better physical, feel of the climatic
conditions.
BOD5out is modeled with inlet BOD5in and Ta as
inputs and is functionally represented as
BOD5out f BOD5in ; Ta 4
An attempt is further made to model BOD5out with
this apparent temperature using GP. The best evolved
GP model is as below:
7:9coscos1:75 T a BOD5 in  BOD5 in
BOD5 out 5
1:67
Figure 5 shows the Ta for the verification data
set along with the predicted BOD5out. The RMSE for
this model is found to be 1.8 mg/l which is less than that
obtained from Eq. (3). The combined influence of RH
and temperature gives the plant a feel of increased
temperature which might be affecting the plant metabo-
lism and the BOD5 removal process. Hence, it is rec-
ommended to include apparent temperature in modeling
of BOD5out.
It can be noted that the approach and technique
adopted in this study can easily be replicated in any
Predicted BOD5out (mg/L)
Observed BOD5out (mg/L)
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Environ Monit Assess (2017) 189: 164
Fig. 5 Comparison of predicted 90
and observed BOD5out with Ta 80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 2
other study setting as described in the BMethodology^
section. However, since the weather conditions change
significantly with the change in geographical locations
and since BOD5 in will also vary significantly based on
the quality of the raw sewage considered, GP will
evolve different form of mathematical models than what
has been given in this study (Eqs. (3) and (5)). In
summary, it can be said that while the evolved mathe-
matical models are site specific, the procedure to evolve
the models is generic which can be adopted for any
other study.
Conclusions
The treatment of wastewater in the CW system is diffi-
cult to understand due to complex physical, biological,
and chemical processes operating simultaneously and
influencing each other. The major conclusions from this
study are summarized as follows:
(a) BOD5 removal is found to be influenced by varia-
tion in the RH. It is found to decrease with the
increase in RH while maintaining a steady temper-
ature and fixed operational parameters.
(b) In the BOD5out modeling, apparent temperature
can be included in lieu of RH. Since the apparent
temperature reflects the combined effect of RH and
temperature, this can be a preferred choice.
(c) CWs involve complex processes and in order to
arrive at clear cut guidelines for the design, region
specific studies need to be carried out to yield
region specific guidelines.
Page 9 of 10 164
Predicted BOD5out
(mg/L)
Observed BOD5out
(mg/L)
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
(d) GP seems to evolve meaningful models with small
data sets for training. This can be explored more
through further experimental studies.
(e) The GP evolved models are all site specific and
different models will be evolved for any change in
input conditions such as geographical locations,
weather conditions, and quality of the input
sewage.
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