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   John Carlos Baez (johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz)'s status on Sunday, 03-May-2026 07:12:45 JST John Carlos Baez

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   However, Käthe Seidel of the Max Planck Institute did not need Odum’s theoretical framework to practice what would later be considered one of the prime examples of ecological engineering [Se]. In the 1950s she began using wetland plants like bulrushes to treat wastewater, trying to improve the poor performance of rural septic tanks and pond systems.

   By the early 1980s the technology had been introduced to Denmark, and by 1987 nearly 100 systems were in operation there. The UK, France, Netherlands, and Austria followed. By now, constructed wetlands are recognized as a reliable treatment technology suitable for many types of wastewater [EG,Vy].

   In Europe, Seidel’s system has become the norm: waste water percolates through basins filled with coarse sand and planted with bulrushes or reeds. In North America and Australia, open ponds with marsh plants are more popular, thanks in part to Odum’s work on recycling partially treated sewage in cypress swamps. To run any of these systems successfully requires detailed ecological expertise—not just “wetland plants treat water” but *which* wetland plants, in *which* climate, supporting *which* groups of microbes to carry out *which* activities.

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   [Se] Seidel, K. (1976). Macrophytes and water purification. Biological Control of Water Pollution. J. Tourbier & R.W. Pierson Jr. (eds.), Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 109–121.

   [EG] Entnier C. & Guterstam B. (1996). Ecological Engineering for Wastewater Treatment. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

   [Vy] Vymazal, J. (2011). Constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment: five decades of experience, Environmental Science & Technology 45(1), 61–69. https://doi.org/10.1021/es101403q