Salt Contaminated Water Phytotreatment by Constructed Wetland

Abstract

Soil and water salinization can be reclaimed using halophytes. Salt contaminated water are usually treated with membrane processes and thermal methods. However, constructed wetland an efficient and affordable technology has been proposed to remove salt from water using halophytes. Efficiency of constructed wetlands are reported in this paper. Studies generally observed salt absorption by plants and salt accumulation issues in soil. An analysis of the literature demonstrates that phytoextraction partially removes salt from salt contaminated water and must be coupled with other technologies for increased effectiveness. The use of brine volume reduction, to reduce the volume of contaminated water, used in conjunction with phytoextraction is proposed as an alternative. Brine volume reduction also provides the possibility of generating income by cash crop cultivation. Recommendations are proposed to improve the treatment of salt contaminated water. A constructed wetland with basins planted with incrementally higher salt tolerant species is presented. Its design is based on evapotranspiration modelling and species selection.