The objectives of this study were to characterize the wastewater flow through the VFS, and relate this to the P removal in the VFS. A total of 68 subsurface wells (20∼40 cm below the soil surface) and 35 surface wells (0~5 cm), and the application of chloride tracer were used to investigate flow paths and soluble reactive P (SRP) removal from the 21 m wide and 33 m long VFS receiving dairy milkhouse waste. The early chloride breakthroughs in wells in the center of the VFS showed that the milkhouse waste flows preferentially down in the center of the hillslope. The locally saturated area created near the discharge pipe in the center of the VFS accelerates surface flow that contributed to rapid transport of P to the down slope area. Although VFS of 33m long eventually reduced SRP to lower than 0.2 mg/L in most cases, SRP is less effectively removed in the areas where soil saturation occurred. It is suggested that the effort to distribute the wastewater uniformly to avoid soil saturation and reduce the flow velocity need to be considered in new designs.