Search

A diagnosis, carried out as part of the conception of the National Sanitation Strategy of the Dominican Republic, states that 75% of the population does not have sewerage services, and just around 10% of the wastewater generated receive some treatment. Furthermore, the discharge of sewage from more than a million septic tanks in the country constitutes the largest source of diffuse pollution. Regarding the above mentioned, "Plan Yaque" (Plan for the Sustainable Development of the Yaque del Norte River Basin) has implemented a relatively cost-effective solution in "El Dorado," a small peri-urban settlement in Jarabacoa municipality. Nonpoint source pollution was converted into point source through a system that collects all the sewage from each septic tank and, then, brings those wastewaters into a nature-based treatment system (constructed wetland with the subsurface flow). This work shows the results obtained in the assessment of the design and exploitation of a wastewater treatment system targeting to reduce the pollution's load that is affecting the Yaque del Norte River Basin. The treatment system is based on a sewer system that brings the sewage from the houses into two septic tanks, from where they are brought to a constructed wetland. The 70 m2 wetland was designed to treat the sewage generated by 75 inhabitants. Because of the treatment, the decrease of the pollutant's load into the inflowing sewage achieved an average removal value of 93% for COD, 95% for BOD, 98% for fecal coliforms and 44% for phosphorus as orthophosphate. The system could potentially spread out in other peri-urban settlements in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]