Contribution of Constructed Wetlands for Reclaimed Water Production: A Review

Abstract

Freshwater scarcity is a growing threat to sustainable development, which can be mitigated by adequate management of water resources. Agriculture and related activities consist in the main use of freshwater, but several other human activities present relevant contributions. Because most of the water uses imply the generation of resultant wastewater, the production and use of reclaimed water by appropriate technologies can be part of the solution to that issue. Considering that the use of constructed wetlands (CWs) can be a relevant contribution to the production of reclaimed water, as an eco-friendly alternative to costly advanced water treatment technologies, this work is a review of the last decade of literature on the use of CWs to produce reclaimed water. The results point to a usual focus on the production of reclaimed water for agriculture or urban spaces irrigation. In order to potentiate a broader application of CWs, some directions of future research and use of this green technology are proposed.

Remote Monitoring of Energy-Autonomous Constructed Wetlands

“…Affordable means for wastewater treatment can avoid threats to freshwater availability for basic human needs, crops, and feed production, can avoid diseases and negative environmental impacts, and can potentiate the reuse of the treated wastewater [5][6]. Reclaimed water, as usually the recovered treated wastewater is named, can be used for diverse applications, such as irrigation, washing, fire control, and process water in the industry [7][8][9][10][11][12]. All applications of reclaimed water contribute to diminishing the abstraction of water from nature.…”

“…Due to the need for sustainable and low-impact technologies, nature-based solutions (NBS) are being considered as an alternative to conventional technologies [13,14]. Among NBS, CW is an affordable and greener technology for wastewater treatment [10,11].…”