Abstract

NAVARRO-FROMETA, Amado Enrique  and  DURAN-DOMINGUEZ, María del Carmen. Decentralized treatment of suburban and small rural communities: artificial or constructed wetlands, a technology to consider. Rev Cub Quim [online]. 2019, vol.31, suppl.1, pp.87-104. ISSN 2224-5421.

One of the environmentally friendly options for decentralized treatment of wastewaters from communities with less than 2000 inhabitants is the constructed wetlands (CW). These are semi-terrestrial systems with high moisture contents and vegetation with auto-depuration potential. Natural wetlands are mimicked by CW with minimum or even null energy consumption. They can be considered as bio-reactors with natural aeration where emerging plants transport oxygen from air to its rhizomes creating a mosaicofaerobic and anaerobic zones favoring settling and filtration of suspended solids, microbial degradation of organic matter, nitrification and denitrification, phosphates precipitation, and pathogens deathby phyto-remediation. They have low construction, operation, and maintenance costs. Its disadvantage is the required area. Thus, three study cases are presented for horizontal, vertical, and hybrid subsuperficial flow constructed wetlands showing efficient removal of pollutants.

Keywords : decentralized treatment; wastewaters; small suburban and rural communities; constructed wetlands.

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