IMPORTANCE OF CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS TO TREAT WASTEWATER AS A PART OF WATER MANAGEMENT

Ali Berktay, Selcuk University, Turkey

Abstract

Natural sewage treatment processes are achieved using methods that are designed to utilize natural physical principles combined with biological activities of microorganisms. Microorganisms used in the treatment facility are generated from microbial populations that occur naturally in the wastewater itself. The main features of natural wastewater treatments are; Simplicity: plants design and construction are very simple, Cost-effectiveness: plants require low building, labor and maintenance costs, Efficiency: natural wastewater treatment plants are generally rather efficient for the removal of most of the pollutants. The efficiency is highly dependent on climatic conditions: it is lower with low temperatures, Reliability: natural systems are very reliable even in extreme operating conditions. They can resist a wide variety of hydraulic and organic feed. Natural systems for effective wastewater treatment are available in three major categories: aquatic, terrestrial, and wetland. All depend on natural physical and chemical responses as well as the unique biological components in each process.
Wetlands are defined as land where the water table is at (or above) the ground surface long enough to maintain saturated soil conditions and the growth of related vegetation. The capability for wastewater renovation in wetlands has been verified in a number of studies in a variety of geographical settings. Wetlands have included preexisting natural marshes, swamps, strands, bogs, peat lands, cypress domes, and systems specially constructed for wastewater treatment. A constructed wetland is an artificial wetland, marsh or swamp created as a new or restored habitat for native and migratory, for anthropogenicwastewater, stormwater runoff, or sewage treatment, for land reclamation after mining, refineries or other ecological disturbances such as required mitigation for natural wetlands lost to a development. Natural wetlands act as a, removing sediments and pollutants such as heavy metals from the water, and constructed wetlands can be designed to emulate these features. For small communities in particular, the cost of treatment represents a higher percentage of the budged than historically allocated to water pollution control. Processes that use relatively more land and are lower in energy use and labor costs are therefore becoming attractive alternatives for these communities.
In this study, the importance of natural sewage treatment methods are emphasized with the special attention to the constructed wetlands applied for the small communities. Some examples of the constructed wetlands applied in Turkey will also be presented in this report.