MWA's Constructed Wetlands treatment facility is the first of its kind in Iowa, and one of the first in the nation. It is designed to treat leachate collected at the landfill. Leachate, a high-strength wastewater, is created when rainwater seeps through the waste in the landfill and picks up suspended solids such as nitrogen, iron, and ammonia.

A leachate collection piping system pumps the leachate from under the landfill to a series of wetlands cells. The plants in the wetlands system naturally remove the suspended solids in the wastewater. After treatment, the remaining effluent is then applied to a prairie, where it is released as vapor back to the environment.

MWA worked with Foth & Van Dyke, a regional engineering consulting firm, and JF New & Associates of Indiana, to design and build its Constructed Wetlands Leachate Treatment Facility.

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