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Constructed Wetlands for Water Pollution Control in Urban and Rural Areas

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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Wastewater Treatment and Reuse".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 July 2022) | Viewed by 20126

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Ewa Wojciechowska

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Guest Editor

Gdańsk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland
Interests: constructed wetlands; landfill leachate treatment; nature-based solutions; stormwater management; sustainable urban drainage systems; heavy metals; nutrients; sediments
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Constructed wetlands are engineered systems which incorporate processes of water purification that are naturally occurring in marsh and wetlands ecosystems. Specific technical design aids to intensify and optimize the treatment processes at the substrate–root zone matrix by using different technical configurations, substrates, and plant species. Used since the 1980s, constructed wetlands are one of the first Nature-based solutions that were successfully used for the treatment of various types of wastewater, starting from domestic and municipal wastewater through to greywater, CSO, stormwater runoff, agricultural drainage, food industry effluent, landfill leachate, and others. The systems are gaining increasing popularity because they are simple and cheap in operation and provide reliable treatment efficiency, while also bringing co-benefits in terms of ecosystem services, which makes them a good choice both for developing and developed countries. Besides, constructed wetlands are flexible and can be easily adapted to new applications including the removal of contaminants of emerging concern. New technical developments are constantly emerging to meet the current challenges of wastewater treatment to assure effective water pollution control. Constructed wetlands as a Nature-based solution fit into the newly emerging concepts of urban metabolism providing the potential of water reuse, nutrient recovery, as well as energy and biomass production.

This Special Issue encourages submissions covering the broad range of topics related to constructed wetlands applications for water and wastewater purification, bringing new insights into ongoing treatment processes as well as novel technological developments. Review papers and case studies, especially those presenting constructed wetlands integration at urban sites, are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. Ewa Wojciechowska
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

Constructed wetlands
Water pollution
Removal of contaminants
VSSF
HSSF
Floating treatment wetlands
Nature-based solutions
Green infrastructure
Stormwater runoff treatment
Contaminants of emerging concern

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 3112 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Metal Removal Kinetics, Bio-Accumulation and Plant Response to Nutrient Availability in Floating Treatment Wetland for Stormwater Treatment

by Md Nuruzzaman, A. H. M. Faisal Anwar and Ranjan Sarukkalige

Water 2022, 14(11), 1683; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14111683 - 24 May 2022

Viewed by 1661

Abstract

Floating treatment wetland (FTW) is a recent innovation to remove nutrients from stormwater, but little is known about its effectiveness for metal removal. This study aims to test the hypothesis that the metal removal performance of FTWs will be affected by nutrient (NH₃-N, NO₃-N, and PO₄-P) availability in stormwater. Two experiments were carried out in nutrient-deficient tap water, and two experiments were carried out in nutrient-rich lake water using four native Australian plants, namely Carex fascicularis, Juncus kraussii, Eleocharis acuta, and Baumea preissii. Up to 81% Cu and 44.9% Zn removal were achieved by the plants in 16 days in tap water. A reduction in Cu and Zn removal of 28.4–57.3% and 1.0–19.7%, respectively, was observed in lake water compared with tap water for the same duration. The kinetic analysis also confirmed that plant metal uptake rates slowed down in lake water (0.018–0.088 L/mg/day for Cu and 0.005–0.018 L/mg/day for Zn) compared to tap water (0.586–0.825 L/mg/day for Cu and 0.025–0.052 L/mg/day for Zn). A plant tissue analysis revealed that E. acuta and B. preissii bioaccumulated more than 1000 mg/kg of both metals in their tissue, indicating high metal accumulation capacities. To overcome the slower metal uptake rate problem due to nutrient availability, future studies can investigate multi-species plantations with nutrient stripping plants and metal hyper-accumulator plants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Constructed Wetlands for Water Pollution Control in Urban and Rural Areas)

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20 pages, 5189 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Responses of Bacterial Taxonomical Diversity Indicators to Pollutant Loadings in Experimental Wetland Microcosms

by Subhomita Ghosh Roy, Charles F. Wimpee, S. Andrew McGuire and Timothy J. Ehlinger

Water 2022, 14(2), 251; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14020251 - 16 Jan 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2689

Abstract

Urbanization results in higher stormwater loadings of pollutants such as metals and nutrients into surface waters. This directly impacts organisms in aquatic ecosystems, including microbes. Sediment microbes are known for pollution reduction in the face of contamination, making bacterial communities an important area for bioindicator research. This study explores the pattern of bacterial responses to metal and nutrient pollution loading and seeks to evaluate whether bacterial indicators can be effective as a biomonitoring risk assessment tool for wetland ecosystems. Microcosms were built containing sediments collected from wetlands in the urbanizing Pike River watershed in southeastern Wisconsin, USA, with metals and nutrients added at 7 day intervals. Bacterial DNA was extracted from the microcosm sediments, and taxonomical profiles of bacterial communities were identified up to the genera level by sequencing 16S bacterial rRNA gene (V3–V4 region). Reduction of metals (example: 90% for Pb) and nutrients (example: 98% for NO3⁻) added in water were observed. The study found correlations between diversity indices of genera with metal and nutrient pollution as well as identified specific genera (including Fusibacter, Aeromonas, Arthrobacter, Bacillus, Bdellovibrio, and Chlorobium) as predictive bioindicators for ecological risk assessment for metal pollution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Constructed Wetlands for Water Pollution Control in Urban and Rural Areas)

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15 pages, 1480 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Biomass Production and Removal of Nitrogen and Phosphorus from Processed Municipal Wastewater by Salix schwerinii: A Field Trial

by Muhammad Mohsin, Erik Kaipiainen, Mir Md Abdus Salam, Nikolai Evstishenkov, Nicole Nawrot, Aki Villa, Ewa Wojciechowska, Suvi Kuittinen and Ari Pappinen

Water 2021, 13(16), 2298; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13162298 - 22 Aug 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3275

Abstract

In many Baltic regions, short-rotation willow (Salix spp.) is used as a vegetation filter for wastewater treatment and recycling of valuable nutrients to upsurge bioeconomy development. In this context, a four-year field trial (2016–2019) was carried out near a wastewater treatment plant in eastern Finland (Outokumpu) to investigate the effect of the processed wastewater (WW) on biomass production as well as the nutrients uptake capability (mainly N and P) by a willow variety (Salix schwerinii). Results indicated that WW irrigation expressively increased the willow diameter growth and biomass yield around 256% and 6510%, respectively, compared to the control treatment site (without WW). The willow was also able to accumulate approximately 41–60% of the N and 32–50% of the P in two years (2018–2019). Overall, willow showed a total 20% mortality rate under WW irrigation throughout the growing periods (2017–2019) as compared to control (39%). The results demonstrate that willow has the potential to control eutrophication (reducing nutrients load) from the wastewater with the best survival rate and can provide high biomass production for bioenergy generations in cold climatic conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Constructed Wetlands for Water Pollution Control in Urban and Rural Areas)

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11 pages, 2121 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Packing Media and the Insertion of Vegetation on the Performance of Biological Trickling Filters

by Vinícius Ferreira Martins, Greicelene Jesus da Silva and Alisson Carraro Borges

Water 2021, 13(13), 1735; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13131735 - 23 Jun 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2247

Abstract

The use of the plant Chrysopogon zizanioides (vetiver), able to develop under adverse conditions while removing a great number of pollutants, in constructed wetlands (CWs) is widely reported. Regarding the biological trickling filters (BTFs), the selection of the media is one of the most important factors in its performance. We investigated whether the addition of vegetation improves the efficiency of the basic parameters of BTFs with gravel. In addition, due to the properties of light expanded clay aggregate (LECA), we evaluated whether the support media composed of vetiver and LECA is able to increase the media’s oxygenation. The efficiencies were 39, 49, 56, and 49% for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and 27, 20, 12, and 31%, for total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) in BTF_LV (vetiver with LECA), BTF_L (LECA only), BTF_GV (vetiver with gravel) and BTF_G (gravel only), respectively. LECA when associated with vetiver may have provided higher aeration of the filter, denoted by the higher nitrate effluent concentration (0.35, against 0.03, 0.06, and 0.10 mg L⁻¹ for BTF_L, BTF_GV, and BTF_G). Vetiver had no improvement on BTFs performance concerning BOD. However, associated with LECA, its use could be viable to remove dissolved forms of nitrogen. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Constructed Wetlands for Water Pollution Control in Urban and Rural Areas)

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14 pages, 23988 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Plant Nutrient Uptake in Full-Scale Floating Treatment Wetlands in a Florida Stormwater Pond: 2016–2020

by Sarah A. White

Water 2021, 13(4), 569; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13040569 - 23 Feb 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2996

Abstract

Nutrient enrichment of surface waters degrades water quality. Municipalities need effective and economical solutions to remove nutrients from surface waters. From July 2016 to May 2020, full-scale (900 m², 5% cover) floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) were deployed in Wickham Park pond, a eutrophic water body (0.13 mg/L total phosphorus (P), 0.96 mg/L total nitrogen (N)). The plants in FTWs in close proximity to a SB10000 mixer fixed N and P more efficiently. The rate of N (g/m²/year) fixed within tissues was highest for Juncus effusus (13.5), Agrostis alba (13.2), and Sagittaria lancifolia (12.1). The rate of P (g/m²/year) fixed within plant tissues was similar for all species (3.77, Agrostis alba, Canna spp., Iris hexagona, Juncus effusus, and Sagittaria lancifolia) save Pontederia cordata (2.52) volunteer species (1.41). The N and P removed with plant harvest were similar for non-mixed and mixed FTWs. Notably, the N:P ratio in plant tissues in 2017 (pre-mixer installation) was 11:1; after mixer installation (2018–2020), N:P ratios averaged 2.7:1, indicating increased P fixation within plant tissues. In 2017, 12,828 kg of plant tissues was harvested, removing 334 kg of N and 29.5 kg of P. In 2019, 32,958 kg of plant biomass was harvested from the pond, removing 425 kg of N and 138 kg of P. In 2020, 27,945 kg of biomass was harvested from FTWs, removing 267 kg of N and 95 kg of P. From 2016 to 2020, 73,000 kg of biomass was harvested, removing 1026 kg of N and 262 kg of P from Wickham Park pond. Knowing the total fresh biomass of tissues removed from FTWs at harvest is critical for accuracy in reporting nutrient removal aided by FTWs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Constructed Wetlands for Water Pollution Control in Urban and Rural Areas)

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Review

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8 pages, 643 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Partial Contribution of Constructed Wetland Components (Roots, Gravel, Microorganisms) in the Removal of Phenols: A Mini Review

by Eyal Kurzbaum

Water 2022, 14(4), 626; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14040626 - 18 Feb 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2311

Abstract

Constructed wetlands (CW) have attracted growing interest in wastewater treatment research in the last 20 years, and have been investigated intensively worldwide. Many of the basic processes occurring in CWs have been qualitatively established; however, much quantitative knowledge is still lacking. In this mini review, the proportionate contributions of the different system components to removal of contaminants are examined. The main objective of this mini review is to provide a more in-depth assessment of the interactions between the porous bed, plants, and microorganisms during the removal of organic contaminants from the water in a subsurface flow CW system. In addition, a unique technique to study the partial contribution to the total removal of contaminants in a CW is described. Future studies in this field will expand our knowledge of any synergistic or antagonistic interactions between the components and facilitate improved CW construction and operation. Here, phenol will be used as a model industrial organic contaminant to illustrate our current understanding of the contributions of the different components to total removal. I will also discuss the various factors influencing the efficacy of bacteria, whether planktonic or as biofilm (on porous bed or plant roots), in subsurface flow CWs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Constructed Wetlands for Water Pollution Control in Urban and Rural Areas)

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Graphical abstract

19 pages, 1167 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Influence of Design and Operational Factors on the Removal of Personal Care Products by Constructed Wetlands

by Huma Ilyas and Eric D. van Hullebusch

Water 2020, 12(5), 1367; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12051367 - 12 May 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3152

Abstract

This research presents the correlation analysis of selected design and operational factors (depth, area, hydraulic and organic loading rate, and hydraulic retention time), and physicochemical parameters (pH, temperature, and dissolved oxygen) of constructed wetlands (CWs) with the removal efficiency of personal care products (PCPs). The results demonstrated that the removal efficiencies of the studied PCPs exhibit a significant correlation with two or more of these factors. The role of plants in the removal of PCPs is demonstrated by the higher performance of planted compared with unplanted CWs due to direct uptake of PCPs and their aerobic biodegradation. The enhanced removal of PCPs was achieved with the use of substrate material of high adsorption capacity and with high surface area in CWs. The removal efficiency of almost all of the studied PCPs revealed seasonal differences, but significant difference was established in the case of galaxolide and methyl dihydrojasmonate. Most of the examined PCPs demonstrated adsorption and/or sorption as their most dominant removal mechanism followed by biodegradation and plant uptake. Therefore, the efficient removal of PCPs demands the integrated design ensuring suitable environment for the occurrence of these processes along with the optimal values of design and operational factors, and physicochemical parameters. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Constructed Wetlands for Water Pollution Control in Urban and Rural Areas)

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