Constructed Wetlands — Innovative Approach Towards Sustainable Wastewater Treatments

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are engineered systems utilising natural processes to attenuate and treat contaminants from water bodies in a controlled environment. CWs have been developed to replace conventional wastewater treatment, which consumes lots of energy and resources. The main advantage of the CW is the low energy use, the applications of natural, sustainable treatment as well as the ease of operation and maintenance. This system has been widely used across the globe and particularly in Australia due to the land availability and to purify agricultural effluent. However, the removal of contaminants is still complex and depends on various parameters, including flow rate, configuration and detention time. Moreover, CWs have a wide array of removal mechanisms, including sedimentation, filtration, precipitation, absorption, plant uptake and others. The current project aims to optimise these parameters to achieve sustainable CWs design and operation. A modelling approach and a pilot study will be used to investigate the proposed research.