Linking Water Treatment with Wetland Restoration - Restorative Redevelopment of Devastated Ecocultural Landscapes - page 373

been integrated into the design (mosquito fish, a common vector control tactic in the
United States, were not introduced by administrators because they are a nonnative
species for this area). Managers therefore replaced the predatory role of mosquito
fish by applying biological larvicides in concentrations sufficient to reduce the larval
abundance down to only several hundred individuals per trap night.
A final project in India that CH2MHILL has worked on with the Canadian
International Development Agency involved building a treatment wetland in a small
town in Punjab, India, a situation not dissimilar to the kind of local site-based waste-
water system that might be considered in Iraq (see chapters 19 and 20). This wetland
system treats a mixture of very-high-strength wastewater not unlike that character-
istic of urban situations in southern Iraq. The system has now become a centerpiece
for the entire town and was a product of extensive community involvement in the
planning and design of the project. Such engagement is recognized to be important
to the long-term success of many landscape regeneration projects (chapter 2; France
2008). Further, involvement of the local community in the creation of this wetland
system served to foster understanding and acceptance of the new wastewater tech-
nology and helped to define appropriate building practices that were implemented in
construction (Bays 2004).
CONCLUSION
There is a systematic process needed for engineering natural treatment systems
(Table 18.1). There are planning, design, construction, and management steps, all
of which vary somewhat from project to project, but almost all of which are always
considered for any single project (Bays 2004). Initially important is a clear setting
of project goals (France 2003). What is the need that the wetlands could meet? How
do we plan to achieve this goal through efficient construction? And how can this be
accomplished in a way that has the acceptance of the public and the stakeholders?
This last question is of critical importance in that both the public and the owner must
accept the project and someone must be willing to maintain or manage it. This is
really the only way these projects can be sustained over time.
One last thought concerns the importance of technology transfer approaches to
help the Iraqi marsh restoration. Demonstration facilities, important for facilitating
watershed stewardship and management (France 2005), can be built that model the
approach to restoration using treatment wetlands as well as providing opportuni-
ties for instruction and research (Bays 2004). Good examples of this approach in
the United States include the Olentangy River Wetland Reserve in Columbus, Ohio,
designed and supervised by staff from the local university. This project is a good
example of learning by doing, and has been the source of numerous theses, dis-
sertations, and publications. And this is exactly what Iraqis should do (i.e., build a
series of such treatment wetland learning centers in different regions and educate
themselves in how to go about undertaking this kind of work) (Bays 2004). This
is the best and most efficient way, ultimately, to build acceptance and application
of natural treatment systems in Iraq. Such demonstration wetlands provide internal
research and an education platform in which to train Iraqi scientists and engineers.
The point is that no matter what the scale of magnitude of the final project, whether