Constructed Wetlands for the Pre-Treatment of Drinking Water Obtained from Coal Mines

Abstract

Greenwood, Arkansas, a city of about 7,700 people in west-central Arkansas, has experienced tremendous growth in population during the past decade. The city has the current capacity to produce 4.55x10 6 L of water daily. Demand for city water use is expected to exceed 6.82 x10 6 L within the next five years. An additional 2.27x10 6 L per day is needed to augment the current supply. Two abandoned, flooded coal mines located near the city have estimated water storage in excess of 1.97x 10 9 L of water. The water has high concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS), sulfate, and iron. If a decision is made to use the water, it will require treatment to reduce these constituents to acceptable levels. Designing and constructing a viable wetland for pretreatment of mine water would offer Greenwood an inexpensive, passive method to utilize the water from the coal mines. If the city can use water from the coal mines to augment the present reservoir, the expected savings would exceed twenty million dollars. Integrating this system into the current city park system and green-space will provide a multipurpose facility that can be used for recreation, education, and wildlife enhancement.

Potential Macrophytes for Nitrogen Removal from Domestic Wastewater in Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands in Tanzania

“…This was due to both plant uptake and denitrification [21]. However, plant uptake is only between 0 -5% [22]. In HSSFCW, ammonia-N is mainly lost through nitrification to nitrate-N [9] and then denitrification of nitrate-N to nitrogenous gases [14].…”

Agua para el futuro: Estrategia de seguridad hídrica para América Latina y el Caribe

“…Así, una gran parte de la planicie aluvial se transformó en un parque lineal y en un área de conservación, capaz de reducir el riesgo de inundación aguas abajo; también se construyeron humedales para tratar el agua de los ríos y las aguas pluviales de los vecindarios circundantes. Los humedales atrapan nutrientes y sedimentos y pueden servir como tecnología de pretratamiento para reducir el costo y aumentar la calidad del tratamiento del agua doméstica (Varnell et al, 2009). La experiencia de Curitiba se considera un modelo de gestión ambiental que debería ser implementado en otras partes de ALC.…”