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Twelve-Year Performance of a Constructed Wetland for Municipal Wastewater Treatment: Water Quality Improvement, Metal Distribution in Wastewater, Sediments, and Vegetation

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Abstract

Constructed wetlands have been successfully used throughout the world for wastewater treatment. Nowadays, one of the most discussed questions is their long-term performance. The present study summarizes the performance of a constructed wetland designed to treat the municipal wastewater from a rural community in northwestern Spain during a period of 12 years. The monitoring of water quality for organic matter, suspended solids, nutrients, and indicator bacteria revealed that, in general, the effluent concentrations were significantly lower than influent concentrations. Moreover, differences among years were not statistically significant. Metals and metalloids were also monitored in wastewater, sediment, and vegetation. Results showed that these pollutants have mainly accumulated in the sediments, whereas only a minor fraction has been removed by plant uptake.

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Abbreviations

CW:

Constructed wetland

p.e.:

Population equivalent

HF:

Horizontal subsurface flow

VF:

Vertical flow

FWS:

Free water surface

HMAE:

Hierarchical Mosaic of Artificial Ecosystems

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Diputación Provincial de León for the financial support offered during the course of this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de medio ambiente, recursos naturales y biodiversidad, Universidad de León, Calle La Serna, no 56, CP: 24071, León, Spain

    Paula Arroyo & Rubén Cortijo

  2. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Gestión Ambiental, Universidad de León, Campus de Vegazana s/n, CP: 24071, León, Spain

    Iván Blanco, Estanislao de Luis Calabuig & Gemma Ansola

Authors
  1. Paula Arroyo
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  2. Iván Blanco
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  3. Rubén Cortijo
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  4. Estanislao de Luis Calabuig
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  5. Gemma Ansola
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Correspondence to Paula Arroyo.

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Arroyo, P., Blanco, I., Cortijo, R. et al. Twelve-Year Performance of a Constructed Wetland for Municipal Wastewater Treatment: Water Quality Improvement, Metal Distribution in Wastewater, Sediments, and Vegetation. Water Air Soil Pollut 224, 1762 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-013-1762-3

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