Novel vertical ecosystem for sustainable water treatment and reuse in tourist resorts

Abstract

A greywater treatment and reuse technology based on a living ecosystem, which is integrated into a hotel is presented. Benefits include considerable water savings, optical enhancement of the premises, clear green image, improved local microclimate, and reduced ecological footprint. The Vertical Ecosystem (VertECO) consists of an indoor constructed wetland, combining sub-surface horizontal water flow with stage-wise vertical flow. Plants function in symbiosis with rhizosphere microorganisms providing remarkable water cleaning abilities. The unit can be located either indoors or outdoors and is designed to be placed on walls (interior/exterior). Pollution abatement in the range of 90% or higher is achieved, with the effluent being clear, odorless water. The effluent meets regulatory quality standards for several reuses, including garden irrigation, golf course irrigation, toilet flushing, and others. Water savings of 40%-50% can be achieved. Operation costs are much lower than the costs of fresh tap water. Data showing the cleaning performance of the unit is presented, as well as environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data, which points toward a favorable ecological footprint when compared to current common water management practice in touristic resorts and municipalities.

Long term decentralized greywater treatment for water reuse purposes in a tourist facility by vertical ecosystem

“…With regard to pathogens and microbiological contamination, greywater is usually less contaminated compared to wastewater. Previous experiments with vertECO showed a reduction of log2 to log3 in populations of Escherichia coli and Intestinal enterococci (Gattringer et al, 2016). These preliminary results indicate possible reuse scenarios for non-direct body contact water.…”

“…) and is semi-indoor with an encapsulation in winter. Each level has a root-substrate volume of 550 L, for a total substrate volume of 2200 L. Each level is placed 50 cm above the next level below, the containers having a height of 40 cm and an average width of 35 cm (Gattringer et al, 2016). A time-controlled pump is used to intermittently load water from an oxygenated water tank to the top floor of the vertical ecosystem.…”

“…Compared to other conventional technologies, constructed wetlands (CWs) are a low energy consumption alternative and economically efficient. Several studies have shown that constructed wetlands meet certain reuse standards (RD, 1620/2007) for standard parameters (Gattringer et al, 2016;Ramprasad and Philip, 2016). In particular, horizontal flow (HF) CWs are suitable for on-site treatment, due to their non-free water surface, but they require large footprints compared to other technologies.…”

“…HFCW and GROW systems) were tested with lower hydraulic loading rates (HLRs) and/ or longer hydraulic retention times (HRTs) (Avery et al, 2007;Ramprasad et al, 2017; %" " Ramprasad and Philip, 2016). A novel vertical staggered CW (vertECOvertical ecosystem) was recently developed, in order to face space limitations in urban areas (Gattringer et al, 2016). Finally, only very few studies are available on greywater treatment of micropollutants by means of constructed wetlands, for very few compounds and not treating real greywater (Ramprasad and Philip, 2016;Revitt et al, 2011).…”

A review of nature-based solutions for resource recovery in cities

“…The products may contain pollutants and micropollutants like heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, industrial chemicals, pesticides, microplastics, etc., which may enter the food chain through application to agricultural land. NBS can remove micropollutants often more effectively than conventional WWTPs (Guenther et al 2002;Kabir et al 2015;Gattringer et al 2016;Balabanicě t al. 2017), as conventional WWTPs are not designed to remove them.…”