Description:
In scientific literature and within Wageningen University and Research Centre there is already a lot known about fresh water purification with natural swamps or wetlands (by sedimentation of organic matter, silt, and by processes as reduction and oxidation) with so-called helophyte filters . But about salt water purification with natural saline swamps or salt marshes ( halophyte filters ) is relatively less known. Also is less known about the efficiency of purification (in relation with halophytes), nor about the possibilities for processing and utilizing of the by-products silt and biomass. At the end there is little known about eventually unwanted emissions of greenhouse gasses as there are methane and nitrous oxide, and the conditions how too minimize them.
Research objectives:
Within this one-year s project a desk study will be done in 2010 on the basis of a literature search, eventually completed with interviews, and special small scale field measurements as a first step filling in the knowledge gaps of functioning and lay out of halophyte filters .
Questions to be solved are:
- Which salt tolerant plant species (Bolboschoenus maritimus, Phragmites australis, Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani, Spartina anglica etc.) are considered to be used in salt water purification swamps in relation to purification efficiency, biomass utilization in the market, and the quality of the input water loaded with nutrients?
- Are there possibilities for guidelines and critical loads for the quality of the water influx for sufficient purification efficiency and minimizing at the same time unwanted gaseous emissions?
- What is the impact of purification swamps with high or low salt concentrations on purification efficiency, glass house emissions and marketing of by-products?
Results and products:
Seen the limited duration and the size of this project an Alterra report in English will be the main product. A review article dealing with the possibilities and the limitations of salt water purification swamps or wetlands in a specialist Dutch language journal (for instance H2O without long review procedures, and still well known by colleagues) is optional. |
