Presentation on the Conference: 8th International Conference on Hydrogeology, October 2008, Athens

ABSTRACT

The issue of wastewater management has taken henceforth worrying dimensions in our country and worldwide. In the frame of general effort for the application of technologies that minimises the repercussions in the environment, the Root-Zone Method appears to be an important method of wastewater treatment that follows the processes of nature.

The method is based on the collaboration of "plants - soil - microorganisms" that contribute to the complete cleaning of wastewater. The method is implemented successfully in a production unit of catering and restaurant products at Avlona of Attica. The qualitative changes of the inorganic and organic charge of wastewater have been studied at the entry and at the outlet of the treatment unit of the artificial wetland. The basic research scope was to investigate the chemical constitution of the processed wastewater and the potentiality of its disposal for various uses. An important degradation of organic charges has been noted, which is reflected in the high rate of COD reduction at 88% and BOD5 at 92 %. A reduction of the nutritious elements NO3-, NH4+, NO2- and PO4- has been observed at 29%, 57%, 24% and 51% respectively. The hardness and the ions Ca2+, Mg2+, HCO3-, Cl-, and SO42, are characterized for their augmentative tendency. The results of the research, confirm the excellent function of this friendly to the environment wastewater treatment system, the product of which, excellently can be used for irrigation purposes.

Read the paper (pdf format)

Authors:STAMATIS G., PETROPOULOS D., SERETAKH TH.