special offers for January and February 2011

We live in the 2.0 world, we are in the cloud computing system, in US there is a test with 60000 laptops without hard disk... well I run this time and for this first two months of 2011 I offer a free of charge first step design.


CONTACT ME I will tell you which could be the best treatment wetland systems for your needs, I'll tell you the surface need, the management needs and more.


After this first stage we can build up together an executive project, the engeneering aspect  and search funds (if available) or still be friends!!


                                                 greetings and all the best

treatment wetlands and winery wastewaters

Wastewater of wineries are usually stored some months in tanks or ponds and periodically disposed on the farm’s fields or in the vineyards. This application has a dubious agronomic benefit, because great water amounts with low nutrient concentration (in terms of nitrogen and phosphorus which will be uptake by the crops) are spread. This practice is also typical for the wineries and wrongly considered as the only solution to the wastewaters management. 

The winery wastewater production is not regular during the year, and the production range from the end of the Summer to the end of Winter. During this period the application of wastewater to the fields is usually forbidden by the State regulations and by the European best management practices. It is hence necessary build up big tanks or accumulation basins to collect all the effluents produced and spread them in spring time.

Because of these the farmers must build up big tanks or accumulation basin to collect all the effluents product and spread it in Spring time.

To improve the winery management during the harvest and postharvest time, a possibility is to treat the effluents with the constructed wetlands.

Treatment wetland for winery wastewater in central Italy (one month after planting)

The winery produces two kind of wastewaters: waters from the washing of floors and open areas, and waters from the washing of machinery, bottles and storage tanks. Shepherd  (2001) refer a production of 3 litres of wastewaters for each litre of vine product. These waters are characterized by low pH value (5-6), high COD and BOD₅ content (respectively 1000-45000 mg L^-1 and 300-4000 mg L^-1). The main organic loads are in the first time water flow. With these range inlet and flows values the CW has great potential in the treatment of this kind of polluted water. Masi (2000) and Shepherd (2001) reports large successful application of CW to treat the winery effluents, respectively in Italy and California.

more than 6750 pages view...

Thanks a lot for your interest on treatment wetlands... more than 8400 pages viewed until today  from more than 100 Countries. Is a great target for me! thank you so much, Davide

Vetiver: sewage and wastewater treatment in Banda Aceh

Another good example about reconstruction after natural disaster. A project in Indonesia had set up a real sanitation construction after tsunami. Great...good work!


A summary from "Assessment of Sanitation Standards in Reconstruction in Aceh"  by Norm van’t Hof  - www.bicg.org :

Reconstruction in Aceh provides an opportunity; to Assess the International Aid & Development Community’s capacity to deliver Sustainable Sanitation in the Developing World.
• In the majority of reconstruction projects, sanitation systems, which comply with Indonesian Law or effectively protect public and environmental health, were not installed. 
• Assessment results indicate that, in most cases, International Aid & Development Organizations & Agencies were not able to implement legal/sustainable sanitation systems. This illuminates a skills-gap in a core technical sector of International Aid and Development.
• A few reconstruction projects did successfully implement sustainable/legal sanitation systems.

Vetiver grass is being widely used in wetlands and leach fields in Aceh for two main reasons.  

a) Firstly, although wetland plants, reeds, rushes and cattails, are usually recommended, Acehnese living in wetland environments view these plants as invasive weeds and as such they are not acceptable in household gardens.  

b) Secondly, vetiver has the desired characteristics needed in biological treatment systems. It has a massive root system, which effectively harvests nutrients, it produces biomass quickly and it can live in high moisture and nutrient rich environments.

more information on http://www.vetiver-indonesia.com/sanitation.htm

VETIVER plant and wastewater treatment

Vetiveria zizanioides. This plant, commonly known as vetiver grass, is a clump grass originating in south India. There are many cultivars of vetiver grass but those originating in south India are sterile and non invasive. 

This plant have a long and strong root system that is usually use for soil erosion control, slope protection, agriculture improvement and also wastewater treatment.

The Vetiver grass will tolerate high levels of nitrates, phosphates, heavy metals, and agricultural chemicals.  Can be used for treating wastewater, rehabilitating mine tailings, stabilizing landfills and general rubbish dumps. The plants takes up the toxic materials and confines the contaminates to the effected area.


Here below some photos about applications for water treatment:

(photo: Truong, THE VETIVER SYSTEM

 FOR

IMPROVING WATER QUALITY)

I also use vetiver in a research for aquaculture wastewater treatment with floating wetlands.
And the Dick Grimshaw (Founder and Chairman of The Vetiver Network International) send me, when I was an university student, a lot of books and paper related to vetiver plants and his use. It was 1995.


More dwnld books and publications, photos and articles could be found at http://www.vetiver.org/g/pubs.htm


More on applications and all about THE VETIVER SYSTEM at www.vetiver.org

Natural wetlands and Human population

From Wetlands International an useful book about wetlands and the world that twist around them. This  provides a baseline understanding of how people and wetlands are connected, why these linkages are vital and how they can be better managed.

Wetlands and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) 
Understanding the linkages


From Chapter 1 - Introduction:

" People’s health and well being are influenced by water supply, sanitation and hygiene WASH).  Interventions to improve these have long been an important aspect of the development agenda. Such interventions are normally based on a community’s needs and local conditions, but in the past they have generally not taken into account linkages with and effects upon the surrounding natural environment and its water sources. Yet WASH interventions interact with natural water sources, such as wetlands in a number of ways:
1. water resources, of a certain quality, are tapped as a source of water inflow;
2. waste flows, usually in the form of lower quality water, are produced and discharged;
3.  the natural system receiving the discharge is often either the same as, or connected upstream or downsteam, to the original water resource.




from Box 4.1 The capacity of wetlands to treat waste water
"When a critically high load of pollutants enters a wetland it changes the balance between the various naturally occurring processes. If its treatment capacity is rapidly exceeded, the ecology of the wetland system can exhibit a sudden, drastic change often involving a shift in species dominance and species composition.  If there is a steady overloading of the system, this can result in a gradual shift in species composition that will slowly compromise the ability of the wetland to provide water treatment and degrade the important provisioning services of the wetland, such as fish production".

Wetlands International, 2010. Wetlands & Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) - understanding the linkages. 
Wetlands International, Ede, The Netherlands. 
Published by Wetlands International www.wetlands.org