Hydroponic materials improve organic micropollutant removal in vertical flow constructed wetlands treating wastewater.

Unconventional substrata like activated carbon or clay beads can enhance micropollutant removal in constructed wetlands. However, hydroponic materials widely used in horticulture have not yet been investigated for their potential to remove micropollutants. In addition, potential effect of plant species other than reeds on micropollutant removal has not been sufficiently investigated.

Microbial contamination in surface water and potential health risks for peri-urban farmers of the Bengal delta.

Ensuring safe irrigation practices is vital to sustaining food production in water-scarce delta areas. Bangladesh and many other developing countries discharge untreated wastewater into their surrounding surface water bodies, serving as the primary irrigation source. This indirect irrigation of wastewater is believed to pose threats to the farmers, consumers and market vendors and may also affect crop and soil quality.

Urban water as an alternative freshwater resource for matching irrigation demand in the Bengal delta.

Rapid changes in climate patterns, population growth, urbanization, and rising economic activities have increased the pressure on the delta's freshwater availability. Bangladesh's coastal planes suffer from a shortage of good quality irrigation water, which is crucial for peri-urban agriculture and at the same time, a high volume of untreated wastewater is discharged into the surface water. This calls for a transition towards efficiently managing and (re)using available urban water resources for irrigation, which is addressed in this paper.

Institutional challenges and stakeholder perception towards planned water reuse in peri-urban agriculture of the Bengal delta.

The indirect, unplanned use of urban wastewater by peri-urban farmers in developing countries poses a severe risk to the environment and the farmers. Planned water reuse could contribute substantially to the irrigation water demand in peri-urban agriculture and minimize the risk. However, implementing such practice requires a thorough evaluation of stakeholder's perception and the scope within the existing organizational structures.

Spatio-temporal variations in chemical-physical water quality parameters influencing water reuse for irrigated agriculture in tropical urbanized deltas.

Agriculture in delta areas of emerging economies is highly reliant on the provision of water with adequate quality. This quality is often under pressure by season-related saltwater intrusion and poor domestic or industrial wastewater management. Methods to separate these two negative impacts on water quality for the delta areas are lacking but essential for proper management and supply of irrigation water.

Presence of helminth eggs in domestic wastewater and its removal at low temperature UASB reactors in Peruvian highlands.

This work studied the anaerobic sludge filtration capacity for pathogens reduction in a 29 L and 1.65 m height lab-scale UASB reactor treating domestic wastewater at low temperatures in the city of Puno (Peru). The anaerobic sludge filtration capacity was performed applying upflow velocities of 0.

A downflow hanging sponge (DHS) reactor for faecal coliform removal from an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) effluent.

This research was conducted to study the faecal coliforms removal capacity of downflow hanging sponge (DHS) reactors as a post-treatment for an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. Three long-term continuous laboratory-scale DHS reactors, i.e.

Microbial removal of the pharmaceutical compounds Ibuprofen and diclofenac from wastewater.

Studies on the occurrence of pharmaceuticals show that the widely used pharmaceuticals ibuprofen and diclofenac are present in relevant concentrations in the environment. A pilot plant treating hospital wastewater with relevant concentrations of these pharmaceuticals was evaluated for its performance to reduce the concentration of the pharmaceuticals. Ibuprofen was completely removed, whereas diclofenac yielded a residual concentration, showing the necessity of posttreatment to remove diclofenac, for example, activated carbon.

Resource recovery from source separated domestic waste(water) streams; full scale results.

A major fraction of nutrients emitted from households are originally present in only 1% of total wastewater volume. New sanitation concepts enable the recovery and reuse of these nutrients from feces and urine. Two possible sanitation concepts are presented, with varying degree of source separation leading to various recovery products.

Effect of temperature on anaerobic treatment of black water in UASB-septic tank systems.

The effect of northern European seasonal temperature changes and low temperature on the performance of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB)-septic tanks treating black water was studied. Three UASB-septic tanks were monitored with different operational parameters and at different temperatures. The results indicated the feasibility of the UASB-septic tank for (pre)treatment of black water at low temperatures with respect to removal of suspended solids and dissolved organic material.