Aquatic Garden Plants In WasteWater Treatment

Filed in archive Energy, Environment and Ecology , Food and Agriculture on September 5, 2008

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Miguel Lamiel

In a report published in HortScience, researchers show the potential of constructed wetlands as a simple, low-technology method for treating agricultural, industrial, and municipal wastewater. They investigated the nitrogen and phosphorus removal potential by a vegetated, laboratory-scale subsurface flow system. Instead of traditional wetland plants, however, they used commercially available Aquatic garden plants, with promising results:

Over an 8-week period, five commercially available aquatic garden plants received a range of N and P (0.39 to 36.81 mg·L-1 N and 0.07 to 6.77 mg·L-1 P) that spanned the rates detected in nursery runoff. Whole plant dry weight was positively correlated with N and P supplied. Highest N and P recovery rates were exhibited by Thalia geniculata f. rheumoides Shuey and Oenenathe javanica (Blume) DC. 'Flamingo', Phyla lanceolata (Michx.) Greene also had high P recovery rates. The potential exists for using SSF CWs to concomitantly produce aquatic garden plants and attenuate nutrients in a sustainable nursery enterprise.

They conclude that aquatic garden plants are aesthetic and economically viable alternatives to traditional wetland plants in constructed wetlands.