Cleaning Leachate Naturally: Constructed Wetlands for Iligan City’s Landfill | InformativeBD

Roger B. Dologuin Jr.,  Maria Sheila K. Ramos,  Jaime Q. Guihawan, Ruben F. and Amparado Jr., from the  different institute of Philippines, wrote a Research Article about, Cleaning Leachate Naturally: Constructed Wetlands for Iligan City’s Landfill. entitled, Subsurface vertical flow constructed wetland as potential landfill leachate treatment of the solid waste disposal facility of Iligan City, Philippines. This research paper published by the Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences | JBES. an open access scholarly research journal on Biodiversity. under the affiliation of the International Network For Natural Sciences| INNSpub. an open access multidisciplinary research journal publisher.

Abstract

The landfill leachate generated in Bonbonon is considered high strength (11,622mg/L BOD5), posing serious environmental risks. In this paper, an attempt was made to reduce specifically the BOD5 (~5,000mg/L) as finishing treatment with a Vertical Flow Constructed Wetland (VCFW) planted with Taro (Colocasia esculenta) and Cattail (Typha latifolia), respectively to render the leachate as effluent amenable for disposal as required by the Philippine Clean Water Act. Raw and treated effluents were sampled and analyzed for various water quality parameters at specific hydraulic retention time (14, 21, 28 days, respectively). Pollutants were removed more effectively by vegetated cells than by the non-vegetated cells. Taro (Colocasia esculenta) removed more contaminants than Cattail (Typha latifolia), with an average of 99.32% BOD5 removal and average pH reduction to as low as 7.06 from the average original pH of 7.72. Turbidity reduction is less effective with VFCWs. The system was able to remove 100% of the lead (Pb). Hence, Constructed Wetlands (CWs) with subsurface-vertical flow proved to be a cost-effective phytoremediation treatment technology of the landfill leachate. It is indeed a promising treatment technology that Iligan City can implement to treat its high strength wastewater.

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Introduction

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generation and its impacts on the environment are of primary concern in our societies nowadays. MSW usually comes from domestic, commercial, and industrial solid wastes, which contain organic and inorganic compounds, including heavy metals (Jayawardhana et al., 2016; Mshelia et al., 2014). Improper solid waste management poses a serious risk of contamination to both groundwater and surface water quality (Aderemi et al., 2011). Generally, solid waste is disposed of through incineration, composting, landfilling, or any desired combination of these methods (Jayawardhana et al., 2016; Leton & Omotosho, 2004).

In Iligan City, the final disposal site for solid wastes is the Central Material Recovery and Composting Facility (CMRCF) situated in Sitio Bangko, Barangay Bonbonon, Iligan City. The CMRCF is generating leachate, and it was reported that leachates were made to overflow from a leachate pond towards a creek without proper treatment. As reported, the residents noticed black and brown effluent being carried by the flowing water to the nearby Dodiongan Falls (Arevalo, 2016). In addition, from the study of Ramos et al. (2017), the leachates from the same source were analyzed of BOD5, lead, chromium, and mercury contents and were found to be 52,000mg/L, 0.2084mg/L, 0.6575mg/L, and 0.1771mg/L, respectively. These values did not meet the water quality standards set by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Administrative Order (DAO) 2016-08, otherwise known as Water Quality Guidelines and General Effluent Standards of 2016. This leachate concentration is considered to be very strong wastewater and may pose health and environmental risks when released to the bodies of water (Pescod, 1992; USEPA, 2003). This study has been conducted in response to the alarming state of the river water quality and proposed a cost-effective treatment technology using native plant species.

A very promising technology for the treatment of landfill leachates is the use of constructed wetlands. Constructed Wetlands (CWs) are natural, low-cost, eco-technological biological wastewater treatment technology designed to treat wastewater. It is a shallow basin filled with filter materials (substrate), usually made of layers of sand and gravel, and planted with vegetation tolerant to constant inundation. In Verticial Flow Constructed Wetlands (VFCW), the wastewater is introduced into the system and flows vertically through the substrate. The wastewater is treated by means of microbiological degradation of organic matter and other physico-chemical processes occurring in the system. Moreover, the VFCWs are also being used to treat various types of wastewater, including phenol, dairy, livestock, and industrial wastewater (Kadlec & Wallac, 2009; Yalcuk & Ugurlu, 2008; UN-HABITAT, 2008).

In this study, landfill leachate was treated by a vertical flow constructed wetland systems. The objectives of this study were threefold: (1) to determine the physical and biochemical characteristics of the wastewater in terms of turbidity, temperature, heavy metals (lead), pH, and 5-day Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) before and after the treatment; (2) assess the effect of hydraulic retention time to the physical and biochemical characteristics of the water samples; and (3) assess and compare the effects of the two species of hydrophytic plants to the physical and biochemical characteristics of the water samples.

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Article source : Subsurface vertical flow constructed wetland as potential landfill leachate treatment of the solid waste disposal facility of Iligan City, Philippines