This study investigated the operation of three full-scale Lemna System surface fl ow municipal wastewater treatment plants, built according to the Lemna Corporation design. These plants consist of two ponds, the first aerated and the second for duckweed, with a barrier grid in the latter to ensure uniform plant distribution across its area. According to designers duckweed improves the efficiency of wastewater treatment. The three treatment plants are situated in central Poland and they differ in the occurrence of duckweed, two of them, located in Raków and Bąkowiec, operate without duckweed. and the third in Falęcin Stary, Lemna minor covers ca. 90% of second pond surface. The efficiency of Lemna System wastewater treatment was found not to differ between the plants with and without duckweed. The aerated pond played the main role in reduction of pollutants in the investigated Lemna Systems

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) constitute a large group of organic compounds that make constant threat to the environment. Their contents from natural sources are low. The processes of incomplete organic fuel combustion are the main sources of PAHs. In Upper Silesia (Poland), large amounts of PAHs are emitted into the air as a result of coal combustion in home furnaces and liquid fuel burning in combustion engines (low emission). PAHs get into surface water because of the surface runoff and point source wastewater discharges from certain industries. The following study presents PAHs concentrations in raw municipal wastewater. The tests were performed out of the heating season. The samples were collected from the combined sewer system. The analyses of PAHs were carried out with gas chromatography coupled with a mass detector (GC-MS). The concentrations of 16 PAHs sum (EPA list) ranged between 1.025 and 3.056 μg/L. Phenanthrene dominated in nearly all the analysed samples. The contents of PAHs, which are priority hazardous substances according to the directive, were high in the analysed samples. The obtained results and the analysis of diagnostic ratios for the emissions of PAHs into the air helped to reach the conclusion that traffic emissions were the main source of PAHs in the examined wastewater.

The accumulation and removal of the heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) by fibrous ion exchangers at different stages of a typical biological wastewater treatment system, have been studied. In particular, the chelating ion exchanger FIBAN X- I allows rapid and efficient sorption of the heavy metals from primary treated effluents. The degree of removal of Cu ion wa, about 17%; for both Cd and Pb the removal efficiency wa, >40%. Applied in batch process mode FIBAN X-1 should diminish the content of heavy metals in sewage and treated effluent.