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Effective removal of iron, nutrients, micropollutants, and faecal bacteria in constructed wetlands cotreating mine water and sewage treatment plant effluent

Lookup NU author(s): Jidapa Plaimart, Dr Kishor AcharyaORCiD, Adrian Blackburn, Dr Wojciech MrozikORCiD, Professor Russell DavenportORCiD, Professor David WernerORCiD

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

Regulators in England and Wales have set new targets under the Environment Act 2021 for freshwater quality by 2038 that include halving the length of rivers polluted by harmful metals from abandoned mines and reducing phosphorus loadings from treated wastewater by 80%. In this context, an intriguing win-win opportunity exists in the removal of iron from abandoned mines and phosphate from small sewage treatment plants by coprecipitation in constructed wetlands (CWs). We investigated such a CW located at Lamesley, Northeast England, which cotreats abandoned coal mine and secondary-treated sewage treatment plant effluents. We assessed the removal of nutrients, heavy metals, organic micropollutants, and faecal coliforms by the CW, and characterized changes in the water bacteriology comprehensively using environmental DNA. The CW effectively removed ammonium-nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, and faecal coliforms by an average of 86, 74, 98, and 75%, respectively, to levels below or insignificantly different from those in the receiving river. The CW also effectively removed micropollutants such as acetaminophen, caffeine, and sulpiride by 70-100%. Molecular microbiology methods showed successful conversion of sewage and mine water microbiomes into a freshwater microbiome. Overall, the CW significantly reduced impacts on the rural water environment with minimal operational requirements.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Plaimart J, Acharya K, Blackburn A, Mrozik W, Davenport RJ, Werner D

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Water Science & Technology

Year: 2024

Volume: 89

Issue: 1

Pages: 116-131

Online publication date: 01/01/2024

Acceptance date: 20/12/2023

Date deposited: 29/01/2024

ISSN (print): 0273-1223

ISSN (electronic): 1996-9732

Publisher: IWA Publishing

URL: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2024.001

DOI: 10.2166/wst.2024.001

Data Access Statement: 16S sequencing data generated in this project has been submitted to the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) with BioProject accession number PRJNA837409. Additional data created during this research are openly available (https://doi.org/10.25405/data.ncl.24937038). Please contact Newcastle Research Data Service at rdm@ncl.ac.uk for access instructions.

PubMed id: 38214989


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Funding

Funder referenceFunder name
BBSRC
BB/T012471/1
EP/P028527/1EPSRC
ICA/R1/191241
Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation of the Royal Thai Government
Royal Society

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