Reduction of Contaminants (Physical, Chemical, and Microbial) in Domestic Wastewater through Hybrid Constructed Wetland

Abstract

The current research was focused mainly on the designing and construction of efficient laboratory scale hybrid constructed wetland (HCW) for the treatment of domestic wastewater. Parameters like COD, BOD5, PO4, SO4, NO3, NO2, and pathogenic indicator microbes were monitored after hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 days. Treatment efficiency of HCW kept on increasing with the increase in hydraulic retention time. Maximum efficiency of HCW was observed with a 20-day HRT, that is, 97.55, 97.5, 89.35, 80.75, 96.04, 91.52, and 98.6% reduction from the zero time value for COD, BOD5, PO4, SO4, NO3, NO2, and fecal coliforms, respectively. After 20 days' time, the treated water was free of almost all nutrients and microbial pollutants. Hence, increasing hydraulic retention time was found to ameliorate the operational competence of HCW. Thus HCW can serve as a promising technology for wastewater treatment and can be scaled up for small communities in the developing countries.