Abstract
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.
Highlights
BackgroundThe scarcity of freshwater is a growing problem and natural water resources are becoming inadequate to fulfill demand
Introduction and review purposeBackgroundGlobally, the scarcity of freshwater is a growing problem and natural water resources are becoming inadequate to fulfill demand
Considering that more than 70% of water around the world are consumed for irrigation purposes (UNESCO 2003; Pedrero et al 2010), the application of treated wastewater for agricultural irrigation has great potential (Meda and Cornel 2010), especially when incorporating the reuse of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous, which are important for plant production (NortonBrandão et al 2013)
Summary
The scarcity of freshwater is a growing problem and natural water resources are becoming inadequate to fulfill demand. This paper briefly reviews the global water scarcity challenge and focuses on treating wastewater using constructed wetlands, and subsequently reusing it for various purposes, but predominantly for irrigation saving freshwater resources for potable use. Considering that more than 70% of water around the world are consumed for irrigation purposes (UNESCO 2003; Pedrero et al 2010), the application of treated wastewater for agricultural irrigation has great potential (Meda and Cornel 2010), especially when incorporating the reuse of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous, which are important for plant production (NortonBrandão et al 2013). New standards are likely to be developed as the accuracy of scientific analytical equipment improves and more knowledge of new pollutants emerges
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