ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates aquatic macrophytes that are commonly used in constructed wetlands (CW) can play important roles that can contribute directly and indirectly to the stabilization, sequestration, or degradation of micropollutants in conventional wastewater treatment systems. The number of new organic molecules generated by different industries expands daily, and the huge diversity of organic pollutants is one of the challenges that are presented to the mission of protecting the environment. Constructed wetlands systems (CWS) may be considered by now as a mature technology for the removal of bulk pollutants such as suspended solids, organic matter, pathogens and nutrients. Vegetation of CWS typically consists of aquatic macrophytes, also referred as hydrophytes or hydrophytic vegetation, which are the larger aquatic plants characteristic of wetland ecosystems. Although most researchers concur on the idea that plants are generally beneficial for wastewater treatment in constructed wetlands, the practical planning and maintenance of plantations is still incipient as appropriate knowledge to guide these endeavors remains scarce.
