Greenhouse gas emissions from a horizontal subsurface-flow constructed wetland for wastewater treatment in small villages

Constructed wetlands with a land-intensive, low energy and less operational requirement have been used as a sustainable green technology for treating wastewaters. But are constructed wetlands sustainable? The objectives of the present study are to evaluate one year monitored horizontal subsurface-flow constructed wetland's treatment efficiency from May 2017 to May 2018 and to estimate the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in terms of N20 and CH4. As field data show the average removal efficiencies are low but are all within the effluent standard for water quality. One year average of high suspended solids (91.1 %), high total nitrogen (%85.6), low total phosphorous (22.4% TP), low organic matter (43.1% BOD5 & 35.9% COD) removals are obtained. One year average methane and nitrous oxide emissions at the outlet of constructed wetland are calculated as 17.52 and 0.29 kg/d, respectively.