Study of Variation of Plant Types of Vertical SubSurface Constructed Wetland Treating Groundwater Contaminated with Iron (Fe)

Abstract

Drilling groundwater at the BSD Housing Complex, Malintang Village, Gambut District, Banjar Regency has an iron (Fe) value of 5.98 mg/L. According to the Minister of Health Number 32 of 2017 concerning water health requirements for hygiene and sanitation purposes, the water is above the quality standard, 1.0 mg/L for Iron (Fe). One of the treatment methods used to treat the contaminated groundwater is constructed wetland (CW). CW was chosen because of its relatively low cost and environmentally sound natural wetlands. We used the Vertical Flow Subsurface Constructed Wetland (VSSF-CW) in this study. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of the VSSF-CW system with different local plants, namely Jeringau (Acorus calamus) and Purun tikus (Eleocharis dulcis), in removing iron (Fe) in groundwater. The study used five wood reactors with 90 cm x 30 cm x 40 cm. The results showed that the VSSF-CW system with E. dulcis plant effectively removed iron (Fe) with a higher efficiency value of 85.68% compared to the reactor with A. calamus plant that was 76.72%, and reactor without plant 59,37%. The lowest efficiency of each reactor during the study was on day 5, with values of 58.28%, 37.88%, and 29.43%, respectively. The concentration of iron (Fe) in the VSSF-CW system effluent with Acorus calamus and Eleocharis dulcis plants for 40 days has a value that tends to decrease. Keywords: Vertical Flow Subsurface Constructed Wetland, groundwater, iron, Acorus calamus, Eleocharis dulcis.