Performance of Pilot-scale Constructed Floating Wetlands in the Removal of Nutrients and Pesticides

• DOI: 10.1007/s11269-021-03033-9
• Publication Date: 2021-11-27T04:36:11Z
• Authors: George Pavlidis; Ioanna Zotou; Helen Karasali; Anna Marousopoulou; Georgios Bariamis; Vassilios A. Tsih...; Ioannis Nalbantis
• Keywords: Hyacinth; Agrochemical

Aiming to evaluate the efficacy of constructed floating wetlands (CFW) in removing agrochemicals (nutrients and pesticides), a series of experiments were run continuously for a 16-week period in pilot-scale CFW systems to study the effect of two aquatic plant species (duckweed and water hyacinth) and climatic parameters. The CFW systems were loaded daily with agricultural polluted water containing a fertilizer and five pesticides, whose concentrations and removal efficiencies were measured in the experiments. Average nutrient and pesticide reductions varied from 27.4% to 83.6% and from 12.4% to 42.7%, respectively. The two plants performed almost equally well. High temperatures and increased solar radiation significantly contributed to increased removal performance. The results suggest the use of CFW systems as effective and low-cost agricultural pollution control technologies.