Sustainable Sanitation by Constructed Wetlands in the Mediterranean Countries: Experiences in Small/Medium-Size Communities and Tourism Facilities

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are efficient treatments for various types of wastewater. A strict relationship between the CWs treatment performances and the local climatic conditions have been widely demonstrated. This chapter focuses on the treatment strategies, adopted designs and obtained performances in different CW facilities currently operating around the Mediterranean basin. Several CW treatment systems operating in Italy for small- or medium-size communities are described in deeper detail and compared to the foreign experiences. In general, the Mediterranean CWs systems seem to obtain better results, probably due to the more constant and warmer climatic conditions, in comparison to most of the other European experiences. The operating experiences generally show a high rate of efficiency in the removal of organic content (BOD, COD), nitrogen (Ntot, NH⁺₄, NO⁻₃), total suspended solids (TSS) and pathogens (EC, FC, TC), both in secondary and tertiary treatment plants.