Smart Monitoring of Constructed Wetlands to Improve Efficiency and Water Quality

Abstract

The Smart monitoring of constructed wetlands to improve efficiency and water quality (SmarterCW) project aims to monitor biological wastewater treatment processes by gathering continuous data from remote water and environmental sensors. The acquired data can be processed and analyzed through data science tools to understand better the complex and coupled phenomena underneath wastewater treatment and monitor and optimize the system performance. The results will improve the efficiency and control of nature-based wastewater treatment technologies. The methodology comprises the following tasks and activities: Implementation of a set of electrochemical sensors in the input and output flow streams of pilot-scale constructed wetlands; Acquisition of water quality parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, temperature, and ionic compounds; Acquisition of environmental parameters, such as temperature and humidity; Application of data analysis tools to design and optimize conceptual models to correlate pollutants removal with operative parameters in green technologies for wastewater treatment. This methodology was applied to a patent-protected pilot-scale modular constructed wetland in which filling media consists of a mixture of solid waste. A high-level IoT communication layer structure complements the system to support remote real-time water and environmental monitoring, system performance, and data dissemination.