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Efficacy of constructed wetlands for removal of bacterial contamination from agricultural return flows

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  • Díaz, Francisco J.
  • O'Geen, Anthony T.
  • Dahlgren, Randy A.

Abstract

Water quality degradation from bacterial pathogens is one of the leading causes of surface water impairment in California agricultural watersheds. In the San Joaquin Valley, approximately 50 and 100% of water samples collected from three different irrigation return flows exceeded the Escherichia coli standard of 126Â cfu 100Â mL-1 and the enterococci standard of 33Â cfu 100Â mL-1, respectively, as required for water discharge into state waterways. These results show that runoff from irrigated crops can contribute a significant load of bacteria indicators and potentially pathogenic microorganisms to waterways. Constructed wetlands are gaining recognition as a management practice for use in irrigated agriculture to reduce bacterial loads and a wide variety of water quality contaminants in agricultural return flows prior to discharge into waterways. Based on input-output sampling of four wetlands, 66-91% of E. coli concentrations and 86-94% of enterococci concentrations were retained in the wetlands. Removal efficiencies in terms of bacteria load were even higher, 80-87% and 88-97% for E. coli and enterococci, respectively, due to water losses (seepage and evapotranspiration) within the wetland. Of all the parameters considered, hydraulic residence time (HRT) appeared to be the factor having the greatest effect on the efficiency of bacteria indicator removal. Remarkably, a HRT of less than a day can achieve considerable bacteria indicator retention (~70%), which allows for relatively small wetland areas being able to treat runoff from large agricultural areas (up to 360:1 in this study).

Suggested Citation

  • Díaz, Francisco J. & O'Geen, Anthony T. & Dahlgren, Randy A., 2010. "Efficacy of constructed wetlands for removal of bacterial contamination from agricultural return flows," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(11), pages 1813-1821, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:97:y:2010:i:11:p:1813-1821
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Brauer, N. & O'Geen, A.T. & Dahlgren, R.A., 2009. "Temporal variability in water quality of agricultural tailwaters: Implications for water quality monitoring," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(6), pages 1001-1009, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gruyer, Nicolas & Dorais, Martine & Zagury, Gérald J. & Alsanius, Beatrix W., 2013. "Removal of plant pathogens from recycled greenhouse wastewater using constructed wetlands," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 153-158.
    2. Shao, Dongguo & Tan, Xuezhi & Liu, Huanhuan & Yang, Haidong & Xiao, Chun & Yang, Fengshun, 2013. "Performance analysis of on-farm irrigation tanks on agricultural drainage water reuse and treatment," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 1-13.
    3. Díaz, Francisco J. & O′Geen, Anthony T. & Dahlgren, Randy A., 2012. "Agricultural pollutant removal by constructed wetlands: Implications for water management and design," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 171-183.
    4. Luna Al Hadidi & Amer Sweity, 2022. "Evaluation the Efficiency of Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetland (SSF) for Wastewater Treatment and Reuse in Semi-arid Environment," Journal of Agricultural Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 10(4), pages 65-87, December.

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    1. Díaz, Francisco J. & O′Geen, Anthony T. & Dahlgren, Randy A., 2012. "Agricultural pollutant removal by constructed wetlands: Implications for water management and design," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 171-183.

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