Abstract

ZURITA-MARTINEZ, Florentina; CASTELLANOS-HERNANDEZ, Osvaldo A.  and  RODRIGUEZ-SAHAGUN, Araceli. Municipal wastewater treatment in rural communities in Mexico. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Agríc [online]. 2011, vol.2, n.spe1, pp.139-150. ISSN 2007-0934.

Recently, efforts have been made to increase municipal wastewater treatment plants in Mexico; however, efforts have focused mainly on urban communities. Municipal wastewater can be treated with different technologies ranging from expensive and highly mechanized equipment to relatively simple and low-cost ecological treatment systems. This paper's aim is to research the current status of municipal wastewater treatment in Mexican rural communities, discussing the main barriers and challenges to overcome in order to increase coverage of treatment plants in these communities. In most states, municipal wastewater treatment plants coverage in small rural communities, with less than 2 500 inhabitants have not been taken care of, especially those 47 233 villages with populations ranging from 100 to 2 499 inhabitants, where it is feasible to install treatment plants. In rural areas, the priority has been given to drinking water supply and sewage, increasing the volumes of wastewater collected. The treatment systems that are most commonly used for the small rural communities with municipal wastewater treatment plants are stabilization ponds and constructed wetlands, followed by sedimentation or septic tanks. Stabilization ponds are quite common in Mexico, whereas constructed wetlands have faced dome barriers preventing their implementation on a larger scale. Some of these obstacles are: deficient knowledge about this technology, lack of basic, easily designed manuals for potential users, etc.

Keywords : constructed wetlands; natural treatment systems; sanitation; stabilization ponds.

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