Constructed wetlands for winery wastewater treatment: a review on the technical, environmental and socio-economic benefits

In wineries, wastewater production and solid waste generation can pose serious environmental threats. Winery wastewater production has a seasonal behavior and needs a treatment system that can adapt to these fluctuations while reducing costs, and environmental impacts and promoting other winery activities. The implementation of constructed wetlands (CWs) has been demonstrated to be a competitive solution for winery wastewater and sludge treatment. In this article, worldwide experiences over the last 25 years of CWs for winery wastewater treatment are reviewed. The review shows that the application of hybrid CWs coupled with anaerobic digestion can reduce >90 % of the organic pollutants and solids from winery wastewater while avoiding clogging. These efficiencies and advantages can be also attained with French vertical systems. Not only CWs have a good technical performance, but they also reduce up to >90 % the environmental impacts associated with winery wastewater treatment. It is due to low energy requirements, no chemicals consumption and avoidance of off-site management and transportation practices. In terms of costs, CWs can reduce up to 60 times the costs associated with winery wastewater treatment and management. More efforts should be made in order to define the social benefits of this technology and the quality of the recovered resources (e.g. treated water, fertilizer) in order to promote the circular economy without compromising human and ecosystem health. This research was funded by the European Regional Development Fund (Interreg Vsingle bondB SUDOE programme, WETWINE SOE1/P5/E0300) (http://wetwine.eu/). Laura Flores is grateful to the Ministry of Education and Culture (MECD) (Spain) for the FPU16/01491 scholarship. Joan García, Marianna Garfí and Laura Flores are grateful to the Government of Catalonia (Consolidated Research Group 2017 SGR 1029). Marianna Garfí is grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (RYC-2016-20059). The authors are grateful for the support provided by the WETWINE consortium and the wineries involved in this study. Peer Reviewed Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::6 - Aigua Neta i Sanejament Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::11 - Ciutats i Comunitats Sostenibles