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SELECTION OF MESOCOSM TO REMOVE NUTRIENTS WITH CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS
 
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Department. of Water Supply & Environmental Engineering, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Daniel Reddythota   

Department. of Water Supply & Environmental Engineering, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia
Publication date: 2017-07-01
 
J. Ecol. Eng. 2017; 18(4):42–51
 
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ABSTRACT
Oxidizing bacteria located in the roots of the plant have a unique ability of absorbing nutrients (pollutants) in the wastewater, thus they may be considered as a useful method for wastewater treatment from the viewpoint of eco-toxicology and environmental safety. By using three prevalent plants, namely Typha, Phragmites australis, and Scirpus, we performed a series of mesocosms experiments in Arba Minch, southern part of Ethiopia for the removal efficiency of NO-3-N, NH4+-N, PO4-3-P, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+ and BOD5 by design constructed wetlands. Contrastingly, we found that the PO4-3-P, Ca2+, Mg2+ and BOD5 reached the removal efficiencies of up to 99.1%, 55.2%, 81.1% and 93.88% for Typha plant, which has much better removal efficiency than Phragmites australis and Scirpus. The results explore how the oxidizing bacteria behave in different plant environments and that led to enhance the efficiency of pollutants removal in wastewater.