Constructed Floating Wetlands for the Treatment of Surface Waters and Industrial Wastewaters

Abstract: This pilot study investigated the potential of vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands (VSSF CWs) as a nature-based solution for treating wastewater from dairy processing plants. The study focused on the removal of key pollutants, including biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total suspended solids (TSS), oil and grease, nitrate, and pH. These parameters are particularly significant for dairy product manufacturing industries and are regulated by the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) under Department Administrative Order (DAO) 2016-08 (PSIC code 105). The study investigated the removal of these pollutants in VSSF CWs under 7-day and 14-day hydraulic retention times. Four wetland systems were included: one unplanted control and three planted with Dracaena sanderiana, Chrysopogon zizanioides, and Ipomoea aquatica Forsk. While the lack of replication limits statistical comparisons between treatments, the results of this exploratory study suggest several trends. Pollutant removal tended to improve with a 14-day hydraulic retention time (HRT). Dracaena sanderiana appeared to exhibit the highest BOD5 reduction from the initial concentration of 2680 to 42 mg L-1 (98.43%), followed by Chrysopogon zizanioides from 2680 to 150 mg L-1 (94.40%) and Ipomoea aquatica Forsk. from 2680 to 280 mg L-1 (89.55%). Oil and grease concentrations generally fell below detectable limits (

TL;DR: Long-term management of PFAS contaminated water using constructed floating wetlands offers sustainable treatment options with potential for plant uptake, sorption, and biofilm accumulation. However, limitations such as trophic transfer and the need for site-specific assessments must be carefully considered. To optimize long-term management, synergistic removal approaches and careful plant selection are key considerations.

TL;DR: A series of challenges that PFASs pose to the development of a safe agriculture for future generations are identified and a direct correlation between PFAS concentrations in soil and bioaccumulation in plants is indicated.

TL;DR: In this paper, the state-of-the-art on Constructed Floating Wetlands (CFWs) is summarized and a survey of the current literature on CFWs is presented.

TL;DR: It was verified that FTWs are a potential technology for treating several wastewater types and water remediation under different conditions and many design and operation aspects related to system performance still demand more research in order to improve the treatment efficiency of FTW systems.

TL;DR: Seven mesocosm-scale constructed wetlands (CWs), differing in their design characteristics, were set up in the open air to assess their efficiency to remove antibiotics from urban raw wastewater, finding that CWs are not an overall solution to removeiotics from urban wastewater during cold seasons.