Wetlands for wastewater treatment and subsequent recycling of treated effluent : a review

Due to water scarcity challenges around the world, it is essential to think about non-conventional water resources to address the increased demand in clean freshwater. Environmental and public health problems may result from insufficient provision of sanitation and wastewater disposal facilities. Because of this, wastewater treatment and recycling methods will be vital to provide sufficient freshwater in the coming decades, since water resources are limited and more than 70% of water are consumed for irrigation purposes. Therefore, the application of treated wastewater for agricultural irrigation has much potential, especially when incorporating the reuse of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous, which are essential for plant production. Among the current treatment technologies applied in urban wastewater reuse for irrigation, wetlands were concluded to be the one of the most suitable ones in terms of pollutant removal and have advantages due to both low maintenance costs and required energy. Wetland behavior and efficiency concerning wastewater treatment is mainly linked to macrophyte composition, substrate, hydrology, surface loading rate, influent feeding mode, microorganism availability, and temperature. Constructed wetlands are very effective in removing organics and suspended solids, whereas the removal of nitrogen is relatively low, but could be improved by using a combination of various types of constructed wetlands meeting the irrigation reuse standards. The removal of phosphorus is usually low, unless special media with high sorption capacity are used. Pathogen removal from wetland effluent to meet irrigation reuse standards is a challenge unless supplementary lagoons or hybrid wetland systems are used

Risk Management of Groundwater Pollution, Sustainability and Quality of Life: The Gap Between Theory and Practice in an Intermediate City of the Global South (Mar Del Plata, Argentina)

Within the multiple approaches to the concept of quality of life, access to safe water is, directly or indirectly, part of the variables that define its components. However, this ability to access safe water brings into play the environmental, socio-cultural, political and economic dimensions of sustainability. Thus, this chapter aims to analyze the relationship between sustainability and quality of life from the groundwater pollution risk management perspective, comparing policies (“what it should be”) with practice (“what it really is”) in each stage of the groundwater pollution risk management process (assessment, prediction, prevention and warning system), as well as proposing adjustment actions for the study case of an intermediate city of the Global South. Mar del Plata is a Global South intermediate city, where groundwater is the only water supply source. The city presents a sizeable peri-urban area, where multiple land uses have been developed; this development increases the occurrence of pollution processes because the majority of this area lacks water and sanitation systems. Hence, the policy aspect was reviewed from international and national guidelines and laws, while practice was obtained from semi-structured interviews. The main reasons that explain the gap between policy and practice are related to political, administrative, information, funding and accountability factors. As such, adjustment actions were proposed for the study area to reduce those gaps.Fil: Barilari, Agustina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata; ArgentinaFil: Calderon, Gabriela. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño. Instituto de Hábitat y Medio Ambiente; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata; ArgentinaFil: Massone, Hector Enrique. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario; Argentin