A review on China's constructed wetlands in recent three decades: Application and practice

Hong Zhang; Wenzhong Tang; Weidong Wang; Wei Yin; Honglei Liu; Xiaomin Ma; Yiqi Zhou; Pei Lei; Dongyang Wei; Litian Zhang; Cao Liu; Jinmiao Zha

doi:10.1016/j.jes.2020.11.032

A review on China's constructed wetlands in recent three decades: Application and practice

J Environ Sci (China). 2021 Jun:104:53-68. doi: 10.1016/j.jes.2020.11.032. Epub 2020 Dec 11.

Authors

Hong Zhang¹, Wenzhong Tang², Weidong Wang¹, Wei Yin³, Honglei Liu⁴, Xiaomin Ma⁵, Yiqi Zhou¹, Pei Lei⁶, Dongyang Wei⁷, Litian Zhang¹, Cao Liu⁸, Jinmiao Zha⁹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: wztang@rcees.ac.cn.
³ Changjiang Water Resources Protection Institute, Wuhan 430051, China.
⁴ Tianjin Academy of Environmental Sciences, Tianjin 300191, China.
⁵ Agricultural Science and Technology Information Research Center, Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210046, China.
⁷ Environmental Development Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing 100029, China.
⁸ Beijing Academy of Science and Technology, Beijing 100048, China.
⁹ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: jmzha@rcees.ac.cn.

PMID: 33985748
DOI: 10.1016/j.jes.2020.11.032

Abstract

Constructed wetlands (CWs) have been introduced to and developed in China for environmental engineering over the most prosperous three decades (1990-2020). To study the origin, development process, and future trend of CWs, this review summarized a wide range of literatures between 1990 and 2020 by Chinese authors. Firstly, the publication number over years, research highlights, and the author contributions with the most published papers in this field were conducted through bibliometric analysis. Secondly, the most principal components of CWs, substrates and macrophytes were summarized and analyzed. Thirdly, the typical application cases from traditional CWs, pond systems to combined pond-wetland systems were presented. In China, CWs were predominately distributed in the east of the so-called 'Hu Huanyong Line'. Therefore CWs were limited by the socio-economic level and climatic conditions. It is unquestionable that the overall level of China's CWs has improved significantly, and one of the most prominent features has started towards the plural pattern development. There has been a trend of large-scale or low-cost CW application in the recent years. However, lifecycle research and management are required for better strategies in the future.

Keywords: Applications; Bibliometric analysis; Constructed wetlands; Future concerns and challenges; Macrophytes; Substrates.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

China
Waste Disposal, Fluid*
Wastewater / analysis
Wetlands*

Substances

Waste Water