Constructed Wetlands and Vermifiltration Two Successful Alternatives of Wastewater Reuse: A Commentary on Development of These Alternate Strategies of Wastewater Treatment

• Published in: Industrial Wastewater Reuse pp. 1 - 29
• Main Authors: Nag, Aditi, Sethi, Sonia, Kumawat, Tejaswini
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer 2023; Springer Nature Singapore
• Subjects: Alternate technologies; Constructed wetlands; Sustainable solutions; Vermifiltration; Wastewater reuse
• ISBN: 981992488X; 9789819924882
• DOI: 10.1007/978-981-99-2489-9_1

The World Water Development Report of the United Nations states that about 80% of the wastewater generated by human-related activity goes back to nature untreated or reused. Although many technologies have been developed recently to treat this wastewater, it is often quite costly and unequipped for small flows; therefore, alternatives in affordable and sustainable wastewater management solutions are being researched. There are many places where climate change has worsened the scarcity of water. Thus, a need for such irrigation resources rose which are non-conventional and crucial for food production. As a solution, the technology of constructed wetlands is now emerging as one of the many sustainable alternatives which are applicable easily in areas of scarce water and low flow wastewater treatment plants. Additionally, vermifiltration, a process based on organic waste decomposition by worms, has proven to be functioning well with a very high hydraulic processing capacity. These technologies have been developed to fulfill the need of cheaper and yet more efficient and sustainable ways to treat and reuse wastewater. This chapter outlines various developments that led to the emergence of these two alternative methods of wastewater treatment and reuse.