Application of constructed wetlands in degradation and detoxification of industrial effluents: challenges and prospects

Abstract Industrial discharge is one of the major environmental water pollution problems. The unregulated discharge of industrial effluents into the rivers, lakes, and coastal regions during the last century has produced toxic effects on biotic system and deteriorated the abiotic environment. Industrial effluents treatment plants are not only excessively expensive to build and operate but also produce huge quantity of toxic sludge. Considering these problems, a low-cost and eco-technological wastewater treatment solution is urgently required. Constructed wetlands, the mimic of natural wetlands system, use soil, organisms, and natural vegetation to treat wastewater. The development of artificially made wetlands is successful environment-friendly and green technology for wastewater treatment. This chapter, therefore, describes the overview of constructed wetland, its types, applications, design and operation, the role of plants and microbes, and pollutants removal mechanism from industrial effluents. This chapter also highlights the prospect and future challenges in industrial effluents treatment using the constructed wetlands.