Engineered Wetland Evaluation

FORT Science

FORT Science Home

Science Features

Science Priorities

Current Research

Find FORT Science by

Research Staff

Joan Thullen

Research Task: 8327CM8.7.0
Task Manager: Joan Thullen

Municipal and agricultural development in the arid western U.S. depletes already-scarce water resources needed to maintain wetland and riparian habitat. Ongoing loss of these habitats threatens a wide range of wetland- and riparian-dependent fish and wildlife resources. These include threatened and endangered species, as well as species of concern, at both the State and Federal levels. The only water available for maintaining, restoring, or creating wetland and riparian habitat may be of impaired quality, such as reclaimed municipal wastewater, agricultural or stormwater drainage, highly saline water, or nitrate-contaminated groundwater. Constructing wetlands for wastewater treatment and reuse presents a number of opportunities for creatively enhancing the wetland and riparian habitat resource base, provided some important issues can be solved within operation and management cost constraints. Such issues involve questions concerning whether existing aquatic habitat can be enhanced while effectively cleaning water of impaired quality, and ensuring that the systems do not create attractive nuisances or hazards to wildlife. This task focuses on developing the information necessary for designing cost-effective systems, with long-term sustainability, to improve habitat diversity and water quality. FORT investigators will gather and analyze new information to define how water quality, hydrology, wetland configuration, species composition of native aquatic vegetation, aquatic invertebrate communities, and biogeochemistry interact to maintain healthy ecosystems. The results will give rise to possible adaptive management strategies that stakeholders managing existing wetland systems and those interested in building new ones can consider. Clients and cooperators include the USGS Water Resources Discipline; Bureau of Reclamation (Technical Services Center, Lower Colorado Regional Office, Phoenix Area Office, and Temecula Area Office); Wass, Gerke, & Associates, Inc.; City of Phoenix; U.S. Department of Agriculture (Arid Lands Agricultural Research Center); Eastern Municipal Water District; and University of California–Riverside.

For more information contact Joan Thullen