Aquatic Macrophytes in Constructed Wetlands: A Fight against Water Pollution

Leticia Y. Kochi, Patricia L. Freitas, Leila T. Maranho, Philippe Juneau and Marcelo P. Gomes
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Leticia Y. Kochi: Laboratório de Fisiologia de Plantas sob Estresse, Departamento de Botânica, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Avenida Coronel Francisco H. dos Santos, 100, Centro Politécnico Jardim das Américas, C.P. 19031, 81531-980 Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
Patricia L. Freitas: Laboratório de Fisiologia de Plantas sob Estresse, Departamento de Botânica, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Avenida Coronel Francisco H. dos Santos, 100, Centro Politécnico Jardim das Américas, C.P. 19031, 81531-980 Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
Leila T. Maranho: Laboratório de Fisiologia de Plantas sob Estresse, Departamento de Botânica, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Avenida Coronel Francisco H. dos Santos, 100, Centro Politécnico Jardim das Américas, C.P. 19031, 81531-980 Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
Philippe Juneau: Ecotoxicology of Aquatic Microorganisms Laboratory, GRIL, EcotoQ, TOXEN, Department of Biological Sciences, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Succ. Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada
Marcelo P. Gomes: Laboratório de Fisiologia de Plantas sob Estresse, Departamento de Botânica, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Avenida Coronel Francisco H. dos Santos, 100, Centro Politécnico Jardim das Américas, C.P. 19031, 81531-980 Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-21

Abstract: There is growing concern among health institutions worldwide to supply clean water to their populations, especially to more vulnerable communities. Although sewage treatment systems can remove most contaminants, they are not efficient at removing certain substances that can be detected in significant quantities even after standard treatments. Considering the necessity of perfecting techniques that can remove waterborne contaminants, constructed wetland systems have emerged as an effective bioremediation solution for degrading and removing contaminants. In spite of their environmentally friendly appearance and efficiency in treating residual waters, one of the limiting factors to structure efficient artificial wetlands is the choice of plant species that can both tolerate and remove contaminants. For sometimes, the chosen plants composing a system were not shown to increase wetland performance and became a problem since the biomass produced must have appropriated destination. We provide here an overview of the use and role of aquatic macrophytes in constructed wetland systems. The ability of plants to remove metals, pharmaceutical products, pesticides, cyanotoxins and nanoparticles in constructed wetlands were compared with the removal efficiency of non-planted systems, aiming to evaluate the capacity of plants to increase the removal efficiency of the systems. Moreover, this review also focuses on the management and destination of the biomass produced through natural processes of water filtration. The use of macrophytes in constructed wetlands represents a promising technology, mainly due to their efficiency of removal and the cost advantages of their implantation. However, the choice of plant species composing constructed wetlands should not be only based on the plant removal capacity since the introduction of invasive species can become an ecological problem.

Keywords: emerging contaminant; metals; cyanotoxins; antibiotics; phytoremediation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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