Constructed Wetlands for Industrial Wastewater Treatment

18Role of Bacterial Diversity on PPCPs Removal in Constructed Wetlands

María Hijosa-Valsero^1,4, Ricardo Sidrach-Cardona² Anna Pedescoll¹, Olga Sánchez³ and Eloy Bécares¹

¹Departamento de Biodiversidad y Gestión Ambiental, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad de León, León, Spain

²Instituto de Medio Ambiente, Universidad de León, León, Spain

³Departament de Genètica i Microbiologia, Edifici C, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain

⁴Present address: Instituto Tecnológico Agrario de Castilla y León (ITACyL), Centro de Biocombustibles y Bioproductos, Polígono Agroindustrial, León, Spain

18.1 Introduction

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are low-cost wastewater treatment systems, which have been proved to be able to remove organic matter and emerging pollutants [1, 2]. However, due to the large surface area per inhabitant needed to reach the target water quality parameters [1], their construction is only feasible in small urban communities or as tertiary treatments dealing with a small fraction of conventional wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents.

The mechanisms involved in pollutant removal in CWs can be divided into biological processes (microbiological degradation, biofilm adsorption, plant adsorption, plant uptake, and release of plant exudates) and physico-chemical processes (photodegradation, chemical degradation, and retention or adsorption by the gravel bed). Nevertheless, CWs are complex systems presenting several environments ...