Planted Drying Beds

Planted drying beds (PDBs), also sometimes referred to as planted dewatering beds, vertical-fl ow constructed wetlands and sludge drying reed beds, are beds of porous media (e.g. sand and gravel) that are planted with emergent macrophytes. PDBs are loaded with layers of sludge that are subsequently dewatered and stabilised through multiple physical and biological mechanisms (Kadlec and Knight, 1996).