Constructed wetlands for the treatment of wastewater in small cities on the peruvian coast

Abstract

Peru has the largest amount of the tropical glaciers of the world. Nevertheless, 10% of the population lacks water service and 25.5% lacks drainage (sewerage or sanitation). It’s also important to notice that Peru is divided into the coast, mountain, and jungle. Being the coast, the region with the least area but the major population. To wit, Lima, a coast department, has 29.7% of the population of the country. To magnify the problem, 72% of wastewater is treated and discharge to the Pacific Ocean. Thus, it isn’t difficult to foresee that this situation is unsustainable. Reuse of treated wastewater could be an excellent alternative to help solve this problem. Accordingly, the current study aims: I) to evaluate the physicochemical and biological quality of UNALM constructed wetland effluent (SDG 6) and II) to know the potentialities of the reuse of this effluent for afforestation irrigation (SDG 11 y SDG 15).