An investigation to assess the capacity of the Nakivubo swamp, Kampala-Uganda (which has been receiving partially treated sewage from the city for more than 30 years now), to remove nutrients and pathogens was carried out. The aim of the study was to evaluate the potential of this swamp to remove nutrients and pathogens from wastewater in a sustainable way, with emphasis on describing and quantifying their pathways, transformations and budgets. From field studies, water balance terms of chaimel discharges, rainfall, subsurface flows, evapotranspiration and seiches were meastu^ed or calculated from existing hydrometeorological data to form a water balance. Nutrients (N and P) and faecal coliforms (FC) transformations in the swamp were studied from four transects cut across the swamp. Vertical and longitudinal pro files of nutrients and pathogens were also constmcted. Laboratory simulations were carried out to estimate nutriënt fluxes into the plant and sediment compartments and to estimate the removal mechanisms of FC from the water column.