The landscape desing on Built Wetlands

Abstract

Wastewater treatment systems, when nonexistent or inefficient, impact aquatic ecosystems and the well-being of millions of people. Beside wastewater treatment system’s problems related to building, operation and maintenance costs, there are still problems related to its appearance and bad smells it may cause in the neighborhood. The man-made wetlands come up in this scenario. Based on the natural wetlands, it provides pollutants reduction with macrophytes as the main agent on the wastewater treatment. Therefore, considering these systems ability, the landscape design effect becomes important in the population’s wastewater system acceptance. However, there is still a gap on the studies related to the macrophyte`s with landscaping potential on the man-made wetlands. Therefore, it was made a literature review in different research sources as books and articles. Considering the review, were selected the following macrophytes species: Typha latifolia, Cyperus giganteus, Canna indica, Canna glauca and Cymbopogon citratus to be applied in a landscape design project of a man-made wetland with horizontal flow previously existent in the city of Agronômica – Santa Catarina State. For the 3D virtual model of the landscape design, specific software was used for 3D ambience and photorealistic rendering. The generated 3D virtual model allows easy understanding and wide dissemination of the proposed landscape design for a specific WC system, but which can be used as a model for other systems, considering local specificities, such as climate and wastewaters characteristics.