IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i24p6981-d295219.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Constructed Wetlands as Green Infrastructure for Sustainable Urban Water Management

Author

Listed:
  • Alexandros I. Stefanakis

    (School of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, GR73100 Chania, Greece)

Abstract

Nowadays, it is better understood that the benefits of green infrastructure include a series of ecosystem services, such as cooling, water storage and management, recreation and landscaping, among others. Green technologies are still developing to provide sustainable solutions to the problems that modern cities and peri-urban areas face at an ever-increasing rate and intensity. Constructed wetlands technology is an established green multi-purpose option for water management and wastewater treatment, with numerous effectively proven applications around the world and multiple environmental and economic advantages. These systems can function as water treatment plants, habitat creation sites, urban wildlife refuges, recreational or educational facilities, landscape engineering and ecological art areas. The aim of this article is to highlight the synergies between this green technology and urban areas in order to reconnect cities with nature, to promote circularity in the urban context and to apply innovative wetland designs as landscape infrastructure and water treatment solutions. This approach could be a step further in the effort to mitigate the current degradation process of the urban landscape. Following the concept of green infrastructure, the article presents and suggests ways to integrate wetland technology in the urban environment, namely: (i) stormwater and urban runoff management (storage and treatment of water during storm events) to provide protection from flood incidents, especially considering climate change, (ii) innovative low-impact infrastructure and design solutions for urban wastewater treatment, and (iii) wetland technology for habitat creation and ecosystem services provision.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexandros I. Stefanakis, 2019. "The Role of Constructed Wetlands as Green Infrastructure for Sustainable Urban Water Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:24:p:6981-:d:295219
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/24/6981/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/24/6981/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vassilios Tsihrintzis & Rizwan Hamid, 1997. "Modeling and Management of Urban Stormwater Runoff Quality: A Review," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 11(2), pages 136-164, April.
    2. Mannino, Ilda & Franco, Daniel & Piccioni, Enrico & Favero, Laura & Mattiuzzo, Erika & Zanetto, Gabriele, 2006. "A cost-effectiveness analysis of seminatural wetlands and activated sludge wastewater-treatment systems," MPRA Paper 52359, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 19 May 2007.
    3. Christopher Walker & Katharina Tondera & Terry Lucke, 2017. "Stormwater Treatment Evaluation of a Constructed Floating Wetland after Two Years Operation in an Urban Catchment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-10, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vassilios A. Tsihrintzis, 2017. "The use of Vertical Flow Constructed Wetlands in Wastewater Treatment," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(10), pages 3245-3270, August.
    2. Azam Haidary & Bahman Amiri & Jan Adamowski & Nicola Fohrer & Kaneyuki Nakane, 2013. "Assessing the Impacts of Four Land Use Types on the Water Quality of Wetlands in Japan," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(7), pages 2217-2229, May.
    3. Djesser Zechner Sergio & Alexandra Rodrigues Finotti, 2023. "Field-Scale Constructed Floating Wetland Applied for Revitalization of a Subtropical Urban Stream in Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-18, October.
    4. Vassilios Tsihrintzis & Hector Fuentes & Rao Gadipudi, 1997. "GIS-Aided Modeling of Nonpoint Source Pollution Impacts on Surface and Ground Waters," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 11(3), pages 207-218, June.
    5. An Liu & Dunzhu Li & Liang Liu & Yuntao Guan, 2014. "Understanding the Role of Urban Road Surface Characteristics in influencing Stormwater Quality," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(14), pages 5217-5229, November.
    6. V. M. Jayasooriya & A. W. M. Ng & S. Muthukumaran & B. J. C. Perera, 2016. "Optimal Sizing of Green Infrastructure Treatment Trains for Stormwater Management," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(14), pages 5407-5420, November.
    7. Fei Li & Xu-Feng Yan & Huan-Feng Duan, 2019. "Sustainable Design of Urban Stormwater Drainage Systems by Implementing Detention Tank and LID Measures for Flooding Risk Control and Water Quality Management," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 33(9), pages 3271-3288, July.
    8. Shradhda Suman Jnawali & Matthew McBroom & Yanli Zhang & Kevin Stafford & Zhengyi Wang & David Creech & Zhongqian Cheng, 2025. "Effectiveness of Rain Gardens for Managing Non-Point Source Pollution from Urban Surface Storm Water Runoff in Eastern Texas, USA," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-23, May.
    9. Juan An & Fenli Zheng & Mathias Römkens & Guifang Li & Qingsen Yang & Leilei Wen & Bin Wang, 2013. "The role of soil surface water regimes and raindrop impact on hillslope soil erosion and nutrient losses," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 67(2), pages 411-430, June.
    10. Mariana Marchioni & Roberto Fedele & Anita Raimondi & John Sansalone & Gianfranco Becciu, 2022. "Permeable Asphalt Hydraulic Conductivity and Particulate Matter Separation With XRT," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 36(6), pages 1879-1895, April.
    11. Barah, Masoud & Khojandi, Anahita & Li, Xueping & Hathaway, Jon & Omitaomu, OluFemi, 2021. "Optimizing green infrastructure placement under precipitation uncertainty," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    12. Marco Antonio Rodriguez-Dominguez & Patrick Biller & Pedro N. Carvalho & Hans Brix & Carlos Alberto Arias, 2021. "Potential Use of Plant Biomass from Treatment Wetland Systems for Producing Biofuels through a Biocrude Green-Biorefining Platform," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-17, December.
    13. Angela Gorgoglione & Vincenzo Torretta, 2018. "Sustainable Management and Successful Application of Constructed Wetlands: A Critical Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, October.
    14. Adeel Younas & Love Kumar & Matthew J. Deitch & Sundus Saeed Qureshi & Jawad Shafiq & Sohail Ali Naqvi & Avinash Kumar & Arjmand Qayyum Amjad & Sabzoi Nizamuddin, 2022. "Treatment of Industrial Wastewater in a Floating Treatment Wetland: A Case Study of Sialkot Tannery," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-20, October.
    15. Satyavati Shukla & Shirishkumar Gedam & M. V. Khire, 2020. "Implications of demographic changes and land transformations on surface water quality of rural and urban subbasins of Upper Bhima River basin, Maharashtra, India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 129-171, January.
    16. Mokhtar Karami & Rasoul Sarvestan & Manfred Kleidorfer, 2025. "Forecasting and Simulation of Urban Floods Based on the Integration of RegCM and Stormwater Management Models," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 39(8), pages 3837-3857, June.
    17. J. Hathaway & W. Hunt & D. McCarthy, 2015. "Variability of Intra-event Statistics for Multiple Fecal Indicator Bacteria in Urban Stormwater," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(10), pages 3635-3649, August.
    18. Oriana Sanicola & Terry Lucke & Michael Stewart & Katharina Tondera & Christopher Walker, 2019. "Root and Shoot Biomass Growth of Constructed Floating Wetlands Plants in Saline Environments," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-11, January.
    19. Franco, Daniele & Luiselli, Luca, 2014. "Shared ecological knowledge and wetland values: a case study," MPRA Paper 66496, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Sang-Soo Han & Zhi Chen & Fa-Yi Zhou & Xiu-Qing Lu, 2014. "Assessment of Suspended Solid Removal in a Surface Flow Constructed Wetland Using a Three-Dimensional Numerical Model," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(10), pages 3111-3125, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:24:p:6981-:d:295219. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.