Combining constructed wetlands and aquatic and soil filters for reclamation and reuse of water
Abstract
Reclamation and reuse of water and nutrients at their source provide the opportunity to use simple, less costly technologies and lessens potentials for catastrophic effects due to centralized treatment system failures. The combination of multiple treatment environments within constructed wetlands can provide water quality suitable for reuse. A current project in rural Chatham County, NC, uses simple, aesthetically pleasing treatment components constructed both outdoors and indoors to reclaim domestic sewage for toilet flushing, landscape irrigation and aesthetic water features. A courtyard containing constructed wetlands and a solarium with modular soil filter components and aquatic chambers are designed to treat sewage from within a small business facility and to provide recreational space for its 60 employees. The combination of vertical flow and horizontal flow constructed wetlands with fill and draw controls provides the necessary environments for nitrification-denitrification, removal of organic materials and phosphorus adsorption reactions. The system is designed to treat and reuse 4500 l day -1 (1200 gal day -1) of domestic sewage from the business. Some of the plants used are selectively bred or genetically engineered to maximize their water reclamation potential. Utilization of simple treatment and reuse technology has permitted the business owner to renovate an abandoned and deteriorating school building into a home for two thriving and internationally based businesses and to protect the water quality of a nearby reservoir.
- Publication:
-
Ecological Engineering
- Pub Date:
- January 1999
- DOI:
- 10.1016/S0925-8574(98)00052-4
- Bibcode:
- 1999EcEng..12...27H
- Keywords:
-
- Reuse;
- Constructed wetlands;
- Vertical flow;
- Soil filter;
- Fill and draw;
- Reclamation