Constructed Wetland: A Green Technology for Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

Water pollution is an emerging global environmental issue which causes several thousands of death daily. This chapter describes the suitability of constructed wetlands (CWs) for wastewater treatment, types of CWs, operating parameters, mechanism of contaminants removal, role of plants and microbes in treatment, and the treatment performance for different wastewaters. Wastewater generated by various industries contains high concentrations of recalcitrant pollutants and color, which have serious impacts on wastewater receiving water bodies. In the view to protect surface water bodies and to meet out standard discharge norms, it is the demand of time to reduce the pollution load of wastewaters by adopting sustainable wastewater treatment technologies. The conventional treatment systems are primarily less efficient to remove recalcitrant compounds and color from wastewater. To overcome this problem, CWs could be one option for domestic and industrial wastewater treatment. These systems are simple and have proved to be sustainable and green technology to improve wastewater quality.