Domestic wastewater treatment by Pistia stratiotes in constructed wetland

Abstract

The objective of the study was to evaluate the performance of Pistia stratiotes for treatment of domestic wastewater in a free surface water flow constructed wetland. The objective of the study was to evaluate contaminants removal efficiency of the constructed wetland vegetated with P. stratiotes in treatment of domestic wastewater against Hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 10, 20 and 30 days was investigated. This asks for newer and efficient low-cost nature-based water treatment system which along with cost takes into consideration the sustainability of the ecosystem. Five constructed wetland setups improved the wastewater quality and purify it significantly by reducing the TDS by 83%, TSS by 82%, BOD by 82%, COD by 81%, Chloride by 80%, Sulfate by 77%, NH3 by 84% and Total Oil and Grease by 74%. There was an increase in pH of about 11.9%. Color and odor of wastewater was also improved significantly and effectively. It was observed that 30 days’ HRT was optimum for the treatment of domestic wastewater. The final effluent was found to be suitable as per national environmental quality standards and recycled for watering plants and crop irrigation but not for drinking purposes. The treatment in constructed wetland system was found to be economical, as the cost of construction only was involved and operational and maintenance cost very minimal. Even this research was conducted on the sole purpose of commuting the efficiency of pollutant removal in short span time.

Composition of the microbial community in surface flow-constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment

“…The elevated total dissolved solids (TDS) removal can be attributed to the presence of Lemna minor L. A study by Amare et al (2018) demonstrated a 68% reduction in TDS using Lemna minor L. in wastewater treatment in tropical semiarid areas of Ethiopia. Ali et al (2024) constructed a free-water surface flow wetland planted with Pistia stratiotes and observed significant removal of TDS and TSS with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 30 days. In our experiment, a comparable amount of TDS and TSS removal was observed with an HRT of just 7 days, indicating that CW1 is capable of efficiently removing TDS and TSS in a short period.…”