Constructed wetlands as an alternative for the treatment of waste waters in urban areas: a review

Abstract

Constructed wetlands as an alternative to wastewater treatment in urban areas: a review. Urban wastewater treatment is an unsolved problem. New technologies, such as constructed wetlands (CW), help conserve and protect bodies of water. In this review, the studies published during the last ten years on CWs were analyzed as an alternative for wastewater treatment in urban areas. The literature search on CWs was carried out in the Scopus and Web of Science databases for the period of 2010-2020. A continuous increase in the introduction of these systems in urban environments is to be expected, as they are nature-based solutions; low cost, easy to design, build and operate; that provides ecosystem services, and that are friendly to the environment. The main areas of research for the efficient development of CWs are (1) the search for new plant species typical of each climatic zone; (2) the strengthening of sustainability and the improvement of different ecosystem services; (3) to continue the process of innovation of the different CW designs with the objective of increaasing the reliability and performance of these systems; and (4) the integration with other treatment systems to increase the possibilities of water reuse.