From UCM to southern Chile: Pilot project will treat water discharges

Through a constructed wetland, a wastewater treatment system that has become renowned for its efficiency, a team of researchers from the Catholic University of Maule hopes to improve the quality of liquid discharges before they reach natural water bodies. .

Communications UCM.- In the Los Lagos Region, a pilot project will be installed based on one of the most widely implemented technologies worldwide to treat the wastewater generated in small urban agglomerations. It is a constructed wetland, which will be financed by the Fund for the Promotion of Scientific and Technological Development (Fondef).

“We are going to test a technological model to treat mixed water, which in principle is the mixture between rainwater and municipal wastewater,” said Dr. Ismael Vera-Puerto, who heads the team of researchers at the Catholic University of Maule (UCM) that won the competition of the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT).

“The problem is that, especially in the south of the country, when it rains, volumes of water are generated that are transported through the pipes, which are larger than the design capacities of the lifting or wastewater treatment plants. So, what is done is unloading that without treatment”, added the also academic of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences of the UCM and member of the Center for Innovation in Applied Engineering (CIIA) of the same campus.

In Chile, when the sanitary infrastructure reaches its maximum capacity, the Superintendence of Sanitary Services allows the discharge to natural water bodies, without improving its quality. This causes a progressive deterioration in rivers, lakes, lagoons and seas, among other bodies of water, where the liquid is released.

“We offer a solution based on nature. We will try a vertical type constructed wetland (…), which is fed by the surface and percolates vertically, to deliver better quality water to the bottom”, Vera-Puerto pointed out.

The initiative, which will last for two years, also contemplates the application of surveys, by the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of the aforementioned university. “We will study what is the acceptance of the technology in the community”, announced the civil engineer.

The application process for the project, which will also be in charge of the Faculties of Engineering and Agrarian and Forestry Sciences of the UCM with the support of the companies ESSAL and Aguas Claras, had the support of the Innovation Platform of said institution.