The Dhaleshwari river which flows near Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is currently under threat due to the recent relocation of the Hazaribagh tannery to the Savar area. This study investigated the physicochemical parameters of water quality along with the heavy metal levels in the Dhaleshwari river and performed a comparative analysis among the peripheral rivers around Dhaka City. Surface water quality parameters such as total dissolved solids (TDS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) obtained for the Dhaleshwari river deviated by as much as 90% from World Health Organization (WHO) standards in certain instances due to direct discharge from untreated point sources. Concentrations of toxic metals such as chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd), and nickel (Ni) were above the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) standards for heavy metals in surface waters. Strong correlations among the heavy metals indicated significant linear dependences. Based on the physicochemical and toxicity-based characterization, the river system in Dhaka city can be termed as severely polluted with respect to organic and solids discharge, while ecological risk indices (ERI) indicated disastrously high risk in the Dhaleshwari and Buriganga rivers. The study outcomes emphasize the necessity of frequent investigation while controlling the point and nonpoint urban pollution sources discharging into the peripheral rivers of Dhaka city.

One of the most persistent issues affecting individuals in developing countries is the lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitary facilities. The adoption of centralized water, energy, and cost-intensive technology has proven ineffective in addressing the complex water-related challenges that have arisen as a consequence of growing urbanization in developing nations. Constructed wetlands have emerged as an effective wastewater treatment solution with natural applications. The fundamental goal of this study is to offer a complete overview of the wide variety of practices, uses, and investigations of constructed wetlands systems for eliminating different pollutants from wastewater in developing countries leading to placing them in the context of climate change, environmental resource planning, and sustainable wastewater treatment systems. CWs offer significant levels of treatment performances with hybrid systems achieving contaminant removal efficiencies up to 93.82% for total suspended solids, 85.65% for chemical oxygen demand, and 80.11% for ammonia nitrogen which is adequate with respect to other viable alternatives. In terms of Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5), the highest elimination (84.06%) was achieved in hybrid systems when compared to Free water surface CWs (65.34%), Horizontal sub-surface CWs (75.1%), and Floating treatment wetland (55.29%). The maximum power density generation through the microbial fuel cell-based constructed wetlands ranges between 50 and 86 mW/m2 in Bangladesh (integrated tidal flow) and 852 mW/m3 in China (vertical flow), and the production of bioenergy has been evidenced up to 1,836.5 GJ/hector/year. Annually, wastewater treatment plant systems (WTPs) generate around a hundred times more Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O), and carbon dioxide (CO2) than CWs. In metropolitan cities, WTPs may lead to a considerable increase in upstream land use, which could be minimized by promoting CWs in these areas. The potential utility of different CWs in protecting and preserving estuarine quality within the present regulatory framework is finally addressed in the study, emphasizing that it can balance the impacts of industrial expansions in developing countries for subsequent mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

The original version of the chapter was inadvertently published with incorrect author name citation in Springer Link. The citation name of author "Md. Al Sadikul Islam" has been updated.The correction chapter and the book have been updated with the change.

Dhaka, the capital city, which is the nerve center of Bangladesh, is crisscrossed by six different rivers. A network of peripheral rivers connects the city and functions as a natural drainage system for a massive amount of wastewater and sewage by the increased number of inhabitants impacting the overall environmental soundness and human health. This study intended to identify and characterize the outfalls along the peripheral rivers of Dhaka city with the assessment of different pollution indices such as comprehensive pollution index (CPI), organic pollution index (OPI), and ecological risk indices (ERI). The study evaluated the status of the pollution in the aquatic system in terms of ambient water quality parameters along the peripheral rivers due to discharge from outfalls with a particular focus on waste load contribution. Among the identified outfalls, the majority are industrial discharge (60%), and some are originated from municipal (30%), or domestic sewers (10%). Water quality parameters such as suspended solids (SS), 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), and Ammoniacal Nitrogen (NH3-N) for most of the peripheral rivers deviated by as much as 40–50% from industrial discharge standards by the environment conservation rules, Bangladesh, 1997. Based on the CPI, the rivers Buriganga, Dhaleshwari, and Turag could be termed as severely polluted (CPI > 2.0), while the OPI indicated heavy organic pollutant (OPI > 4) contamination in the Dhaleshwari and Buriganga rivers. The associated pollution indices demonstrate a trend for each subsequent peripheral river with significant pollution toward the downstream areas. The demonstrated waste loading map from the outfalls identified sources of significant environmental contaminants in different rivers leading to subsequent ecological risks. The study outcomes emphasize the necessity of systematic investigation and monitoring while controlling the point and non-point urban pollution sources discharging into the peripheral rivers of Dhaka city.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to measure the environmental impact of five different laboratory-scale constructed wetland (CW) treatment systems with varying design approaches, which have been employed to treat different types of wastewater. Moreover, the present study also assessed the feasibility of treating landfill leachate using four different hybrid wetlands built outdoors, and analyzed the environmental viability based on the life cycle assessment (LCA). Primarily, the choice of media materials has been the focus of evaluating the sustainability of the systems, as for each system the media materials cover major material consumption and define treatment performance. Methods: This study applied a life cycle assessment using the SimaPro software tool to quantify the environmental impacts from the constructed wetland systems. Primarily, the LCA has been applied by adopting the ReCiPe 2016 method with cross-validation using the Impact 2002+ method. Moreover, an uncertainty analysis has been performed to determine any uncertainties involved in the datasets, along with sensitivity analysis on the inventory. Results and discussions: As the results suggest, the systems employed for wastewater treatment using cement mortar have the highest environmental burden. In contrast, the natural media choices, sugarcane bagasse and coco-peat, have proved to be environmentally favorable. Media employment from recycled materials like brick and steel slag could significantly redeem the previous environmental burdens of these materials, providing treatment efficiency. However, the systems employed for landfill leachate treatment revealed the CW using brick chips as the most vulnerable system with regards to environmental concerns, implying that the media brick chips are certainly the major contributor behind this high leap in the scale. However, both the systems worked very well in the carcinogenic category, providing good treatment performance, and eventually exerting lesser impact. Conclusion: The overall assessments suggested choice of media materials are essential to deciding the sustainability of a CW design. However, the CW is more beneficial and environmentally friendly than the other treatment methods, until the design scale has a high capacity. Nevertheless, the choice of the LCA method is also significant, while measuring impact scales.