Biological treatment of domestic wastewater using constructed wetlands is gaining acceptance worldwide due to low cost and simple operation and maintenance. A treatment system (BIOWATSYST) was established at Abo-Attwa Experimental Station, Ismailia, Egypt in 1998. The system consists of six parallel short-deep treatment beds, three sterilization ponds and a disinfection pond. The beds were filled with gravel and/or sand. Four beds were planted with Phragmites australis and two beds were planted with Cyprus papyrus. The study evaluates the performance of the treatment beds for the removal of nutrients and pathogens from primary treated domestic wastewater, with minimizing the length of the treatment beds. Maximum removal efficiency was 76.3% for the biochemical oxygen demand, 83.9% for chemical oxygen demand, 59.2% for total suspended solids, 58.6% for organic matter, and 22.1% for the total nitrogen. Maximum removal efficiency was 82.6% for fecal coliforms, 79.8% for fecal enterococci, and 87.4% for the coliphages. The results revealed that sand bed was the most effective treatment bed for the removal of both nutrient and pathogenic bacteria from primary treated domestic wastewater.