Título
Treatment Wetlands: An Alternative to Remove Arsenic from Water
Autor
MARIA TERESA ALARCON HERRERA
MARIA CECILIA VALLES ARAGON
MARIO ALBERTO OLMOS MARQUEZ
IGNACIO RAMIRO MARTIN DOMINGUEZ
Nivel de Acceso
Acceso Abierto
Materias
Resumen o descripción
Arsenic is a metalloid naturally present in many groundwater sources
destined for human consumption, which entails a public health risk. In Mexico,
reverse osmosis (RO) is the most popular arsenic removal process currently
available. Its greatest limitation is the amount of water that the process rejects
(50%). This feature and its high operation costs make it expensive for many
communities, especially those in rural areas; it is therefore necessary to find
alternatives for efficient arsenic removal. Constructed wetlands (CWs) have
been considered as a possibility for As removal in previous studies. The
objective of the present study was to determine the feasibility of using this
process for the treatment of the water with high arsenic content.
The experiment was performed in three CWS prototypes, operating in
parallel with subsurface flow. Two of the units (CW1 and CW2) were planted
with Eleocharis macrostachya. The third unit was used as a control (CW3),
without plants. The support medium was lime-sand. Two influx arsenic
concentrations (0.1 and 0.4mg/L) were used during this experiment.
Results indicate that CWs prototypes were able to retain an average of 90 to
95% of the arsenic present in feed water. The arsenic retention of the wetland
with no plants was only 23%, which shows the importance of the plants in
arsenic removal. The system as a whole (soil + plants) was able to keep As
concentrations in the treated water under 0.025mg/L (maximum value allowed
for drinking water in Mexico).
Fecha de publicación
2012
Tipo de publicación
Memoria de congreso
Versión de la publicación
Versión enviada
Recurso de información
Formato
application/pdf
Idioma
Inglés
Repositorio Orígen
Fuente de Objetos Científicos Open Access
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