Ecological characteristics of a natural wetland receiving secondary effluent

The Boot wetland treatment system is a 115-acre, hydrologically altered cypress-gum wetland in Polk County, Florida. The Poinciana Wastewater Treatment Plant No. 3 has discharged secondary effluent to the bermed Boot wetland since August 1984. Before that time this natural wetland had been affected adversely by forestry, drainage, and surrounding development which contributed to dying trees and a groundcover of invasive upland plants. In accordance with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Wetlands Application Rule (Chapter 62-611, F.A.C.), a routine biological and water quality monitoring program has been in effect since October 1990. Components of the biological monitoring program include surveys of canopy and subcanopy, herbaceous and shrub groundcover species, benthic macroinvertebrates, fish, and nuisance mosquitoes. Effluent addition to the Boot wetland has resulted in continuous wetland inundation with atypical water depth of 2.5 to 3.0 feet for the past 15 years. Dominance and density of trees has steadily increased, upland invader species were eliminated, and stable plant, fish, and invertebrate communities were established. The long term biological data from this treatment wetland is compared to data from other natural treatment wetlands and a control wetland.