Constructed wetlands: history and current trends

Abstract

Although the use of plants in sanitation is relatively old, the development of controlled techniques is much more recent. Constructed wetlands, which have been studied in France for about thirty years, have undergone significant development due to technical factors (e.g. reliability of performance, robustness of the system, easy maintenance) and, to some extent, a "green" trend. Since the development of the sector and the rapid changes that are currently taking place, research has evolved considerably. From a pragmatic analysis of systems and trial-and-error type studies, research, thanks also to the evolution of metrology, has moved from a deterministic approach to specify the mechanisms, and nowadays, to a mechanistic approach through the creation of complex dynamic models. This evolution of research has made it possible to provide practical solutions to a strong societal demand to make systems evolve towards greater performance or to widen the fields of application of constructed wetlands.