Development of Constructed Wetlands in MCE

Abstract

Water is one of the significant resources for survival of life on Earth. Water scarcity is one of the main issues the world is currently facing. The two main sources of water in Pakistan are precipitation and the ground water. According to the records, the per capita water availability, till 2016, has declined from 5650 m3 to less than 1000 m3 , enlisting Pakistan as a highly water stressed country. A huge amount of fresh water gets wasted every year in the form of untreated wastewater. In the current alarming situation of water scarcity, there is a need to conserve water and use this resource efficiently. This severe shortage of water can be tackled by taking into account some water conservation practices like regulating irrigation patterns and controlling over-extraction of ground water, improving the water policy of country, designing and implementing NAP for conservation and storage of water, making intelligent use of water domestically, increasing awareness among the public, constructing water reservoirs as well as wastewater treatment plants. There are more than 77 different techniques that are being employed to treat wastewater all around the world. The current study focuses on the treatment of waste water by means of “Constructed Wetlands”. Constructed wetland is a concept which is fairly new in Pakistan. It is relatively cheap and efficient process that works naturally. This process utilizes locally available plant species for the treatment of wastewater. There are several types of constructed wetlands that exist worldwide but the present research focuses on the treatment of water by horizontal surfac