Environmental aspects of wastewater treatment and reuse in nature based technologies

In recent years, the issue of appropriate and efficient approaches to wastewater management and its potential reuse has become increasingly important in view of the geographical conditions of Central Europe, where, until recently, the problems associated with climate change and drought may not have seemed so pressing at first sight. Increasingly, so-called nature-based water management solutions, which help to both clean the water and retain it in the landscape, are being proposed. In drier, especially arid areas, this topic has been under discussion for many years and several examples of larger-scale applications are available. In the Czech Republic, on the other hand, mainly pilot applications only have been considered to date. However, the potential of nature-based solutions such as constructed wetlands, denitrification bioreactors, artificial wetlands and so-called reed bed units, is considerable. The advantages lie mainly in the robustness of these systems and their ability to mimic and intensify the natural water purification processes that occur in nature. They can be applied to waters contaminated with common fecal pollution or with higher nutrient content, as well as to waters contaminated with various types of micropollutants such as pharmaceuticals, hormonally-active substances and..