%0 Research Notes
%T Hydraulic soil properties of peatlands treating municipal wastewater and peat harvesting runoff
%A Ronkanen, Anna-Kaisa
%A Kløve, Bjørn
%D 2005
%J Suo - Mires and peat
%V 56
%N 2
%U http://suo.fi/article/9837
%X Peat hydraulic conductivity (K), specific yield (S), degree of humification and shear strength were measured at two wetland treatment systems constructed on natural peatlands receiving different wastewater quality and loading in Northern Finland. Peat K was measured with a falling head piezometer test in situ and by taking soil cores in horizontal and vertical directions using Eijkelkamp cylinders. Peat S was obtained from pF-curves and drainage tests. The K in situ was 5.2x10-7 - 2.9x10-3m s-1, the horizontal K was 6.1x10-6 - 3.8x10-2 m s-1 and the vertical K was 4.2x10-6 - 2.6x10-2m s-1. The highest K value was usually found in the vertical direction. The estimated acrotelm layer with high K reached 40 - 60 cm at Kompsasuo wetland and 10 - 60cm at Ruka wetland. There was an agreement between different measurement methods for S when pF values corresponding to relevant negative pressure were used. S varied from 0.023 to 0.23. After several years of wastewater loading, the peat hydraulic conductivity was still sufficient to maintain wastewater flow in the top 50 cm of the peatland.