Evaluation of the Ability of a Natural Wetland to

Authors: Maria Lúcia Calijuri Aníbal da Fonseca Santiago Ronan Fernandes Moreira Neto Isabella de Castro Carvalho

Publish Date: 2010/12/08

Volume: 219, Issue: 1-4, Pages: 319-327

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Abstract

In recent years wetlands have received increasing attention in environmental engineering Both natural and constructed wetland systems are now being used to treat a wide range of industrial urban and agricultural effluents In the present study we measured the heavy metal uptake of a wetland area in Brazil that receives runoff water from runways and paved areas We analyzed the water sediments and emergent macrophytes and compared the data with the results of other studies of the retention of pollutants by wetlands We also determined the heavy metal accumulation by the dominant macrophyte using transfer coefficients to determine metal transfer among sediments roots and leaves We found that although the wetland removed significant amounts of pollutants from the airport’s drainage water through sedimentation precipitation and uptake by plants additional work must be done to increase water retention times in the wetland to improve the wetland’s ability to immobilize pollutantsThe authors thank the Research Support Foundation of Minas Gerais FAPEMIG and the Financier of Studies and Projects FINEP for financial support Also the authors thank Professor Aristéa Alves Azevedo Department of Plant Biology Federal University of Viçosa and her research group for helping with the identification of the macrophyte

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