Overview and invitation

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Constructed wetlands (CWs) have been adopted by many Italian communities as a cost-effective mean of secondary and tertiary wastewater treatment, in order to meet more stringent standards and to lower operating costs. Some small systems have now been in existence for nearly 15 years, while wetland treatment systems for larger towns and small cities have become a more recent trend. Since 1999 CWs have been “officially” recognized as a treatment technology.

More than 1000 CW systems are operative at the moment in the country. Following several positive experiences with municipal and domestic wastewater treatment, there is now an increasing number of projects and realisations of CWs for diffuse pollution, like as agricultural runoff, highway and urban runoff (SUDs, CSOs,..), for industrial applications (wineries, landfill leachates, animal breeding,..) and finally for “Ecosan” related facilities (wastewater segregation, reuse,…).

The IWA Specialist Group on the Use of Macrophytes in Water Pollution Controlp sets out to:

1. Act as a link between scientists working on the scientific and technical aspects of macrophyte usage in wetland systems (Constructed Wetlands, Reed Beds, Treatment Wetlands and converted natural wetlands) for water pollution control and resource recovery;

2. Contribute to co-ordinating research activities, defining research needs and promoting exchange of results;

3. Develop a commonly-accepted model on the functioning of macrophyte-based wastewater treatment systems and produce guidelines; and

4. Establish standardised guidelines for reporting performance of macrophyte-based wastewater treatment systems.

The group held its 11th biennial conference which took place in Indore in November 2008. The group’s next conference will be in Venice, Italy in October 2010. The group produces a Newsletter (approximately every 6 months) which has now been running for 15 years and has reached Issue No 31.

In 1999 the Italian Section of the IWA Specialist Group on the Use of Macrophytes in Water Pollution Control was established. This group is collecting data (process, design criteria, plant utilization, removal efficiency, economic and legislative aspects, etc.) from existing plants operating in Italy. Since the 1980’s over one thousand CWs, both free water and subsurface (horizontal and vertical) flow systems, have been realized in Italy. Most of the facilities are located in the northern and central part of the country.

The Italian section of our IWA Specialist group is committed to conducting a successful event for the 2010 conference. This commitment is supported by the key entities in CWs research and practice in Italy including all the involved Universities and others: University of Padua, University of Venice, University of Catania , University of Pisa, University of Ferrara, University of Florence, IRIDRA Srl, PAN Srl.

The Steering Committee is very pleased to welcome you to participate in the 12th IWA Specialist Group Conference on Wetland Systems for Water Pollution Control. The conference will be held in the city of Venice, Italy, from 4 to 9 October 2010.

We are looking forward to meeting you in October 2010, 24 years later the first specialist conference held in Chattanooga in 1988, with 32 years of history full of successful events in amazing and pleasant locations, offering Venice as one of the most fascinating spots of our country and a perfect environment for the wetlands specialist group.

 

 

 

 

 

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