Land Infiltration for wastewater treatment as efficient, simple, and low-cost techniques: an overview

Soil infiltration systems for wastewater treatment require very low energy and maintenance. They are very efficient, cost-effective, low energy consumption, as well as low construction techniques. They have been widely implemented all-over the world particularly for on-site, in remote areas, and in small communities. Currently, groundwater is in concern shortage worldwide due to the significant increasing and continuous withdrawn. It has been proved that soil wastewater infiltration system (SWWIS) is considering as an important on-site wastewater treatment, and as an alternative process for advanced wastewater treatment in terms of efficiency and operation and maintenance. In this systems, wastewater should be treated firstly by conventional physical/chemical or biological treatment followed by infiltration through aerated and unsaturated zone. In these infiltration systems the wastewaters are purified through several steps including physical adsorption, chemical reaction, and biodegradation. SWWIS’s have exhibited an excellent and consistent capacity with respect to decomposing of organic contaminants, as indicated by chemical oxygen demands (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5). Meanwhile, it is efficient in removing all the microbial contaminants as well. The challenge factors of the SWWIS are the clogging problem as well as the removal of phosphorous, and the nitrogen.