The use constructed wetlands with horizontal sub-surface flow for various types of wastewater

Constructed wetlands with horizontal sub-surface flow (HF CWs) have been used for wastewater treatment for more than 30 years. Most HF CWs have been designed to treat municipal or domestic wastewater. Nowadays, municipal HF CWs focus not only on common pollutants but also on special parameters such as pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptive chemicals or linear alkylbenzensulfonates (LAS). At present, HF CWs are used to treat many other types of wastewater. Industrial applications include wastewaters from oil refineries, chemical factories, pulp and paper production, tannery and textile industries, abattoir, distillery and winery industries. In particular, the use of HF CWs is becoming very common for treatment of food-processing wastewaters (e.g., production and processing of milk, cheese, potatoes, sugar). HF constructed wetlands are also successfully used to treat wastewaters from agriculture (e.g., pig and dairy farms, fish farm effluents) and various runoff waters (agriculture, airports, highway, greenhouses, plant nurseries). HF CWs have also effectively been used to treat landfill leachate. Besides the use as a single unit, HF CWs are also used in combination with other types of constructed wetlands in hybrid systems. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.