Purification function of the natural wetland in the Liaohe Delta

The estuary wetland is the last barrier for inland pollutants flowing into the sea. The possibility to use the natural wetland, mainly reed marsh and Suaeda heteroptera community as land treatment system to polluted river water was studied. Experimental results indicated that the reed march has a high retention rate to pollutants like COD, N, P and oil. The canal system has high a purification rate to these elements as well. There is also a big potential to use the Suaeda community as a treatment system to exchange water from prawn and crab breeding ponds along the coast. As the pollution problem of coastal seawater has become more and more serious in Eastern China, and Liaohe is among the most seriously polluted 7 rivers in China, this study will greatly contribute to the strategy makers to take suitable reactions.