USING HORIZONTAL SUBSURFACE FLOW CONSTRUCTED WETLAND SYSTEM IN THE TREATMENT OF MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER FOR AGRICULTURE PURPOSES

Abstract

 Reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation purpose can reduce high pressure on freshwater resources. A horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland (HSSF CW) system filled with gravel and planted with Phragmites Australia was used to treat the real wastewater at Al-Rustumia wastewater treatment plant. Some characteristics of wastewater such as biochemical oxygen demand, phosphate and total suspended solids have been monitored from 15 January until 8 July 2018. The results proved that HSSF unit has a good efficacy in the reduction of previous parameters with removal of 84.2, 55.4 and 72.7% while sulphate and total dissolved solids were less removal efficiency with 3.3 and  0.99 % respectively. The measured values of these parameters were within the permissible limits suitable for irrigation purposes.