Small rural wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) currently lack regulatory mandates for pollutant limits applied to reduce nutrient concentrations in effluent discharge. As a result, they are commonly identified as a major contributor to eutrophication and failure to achieve environmental quality standards in receiving water bodies. In response to this issue, integrated constructed wetlands (ICWs) have arisen as a nature-based alternative for sewage effluent treatment. The effectiveness of ICWs has been extensively researched and documented. However, the explanation of the nitrogen attenuation pathway causing this decrease is not well established: is it due to dilution from groundwater seepage into the wetlands or denitrification in the water column? This study investigates three ICWs at rural WWTPs operated by Anglian Water in Norfolk, Eastern England: Northrepps (constructed 2014), Ingoldisthorpe (2018) and Langham (2022) to assess their potential in reducing the risk of eutrophication from sewage effluent. Initial findings evaluated nutrient removal performance at three ICWs from summer 2024 to winter 2026. Throughout this period, the removal rates for nitrate at Northrepps and Langham ICWs ranged from 10.8-99.7% and denitrification is the dominant process, which is encouraging. Conversely, the Ingoldisthorpe ICW performed comparatively poorly, achieving only up to 37.2% nitrate attenuation.