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Passive ecosystem services, juxtaposed with engineered processes, can democratize wastewater treatment

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Due to technological, economic and environmental constraints, contemporary treatment plants cannot treat all wastewater. In particular, the very high amount of agricultural and urban runoff to be treated is increasingly concerning, especially with more erratic — and unpredictable — rainfall events. Passive ecosystem services can be combined with engineered processes to create hybrid, locally adapted, inexpensive and sustainable technologies to more feasibly treat runoff and wastewater globally.

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Fig. 1: Flow pattern and examples of passive (eco)interceptors to sustainably treat agricultural runoff in situ.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. École de technologie supérieure, University of Québec, Montréal, Québec, Canada

    Mathieu Lapointe

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Chelsea M. Rochman

Authors
  1. Mathieu Lapointe
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  2. Chelsea M. Rochman
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Correspondence to Mathieu Lapointe.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Lapointe, M., Rochman, C.M. Passive ecosystem services, juxtaposed with engineered processes, can democratize wastewater treatment. Nat Water 1, 308–310 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-023-00065-w

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