ABSTRACT
The excessive increase of phosphate (PO4-3> 0.10 mg/L) in surface and groundwater bodies leads to problems such as eutrophication, a consequence of the direct or indirect discharge of industrial, agricultural and domestic discharges, which results in a negative effect on water quality, putting the health and integrity of ecosystems at risk. According to the 2019 Panama State of the Environment Report, this phenomenon is occurring in the lower reaches of the most urbanized basins. Due to the lack of eutrophication studies and in search of providing preventive solutions to this problem, the purpose of this research was to evaluate the removal capacity of the phosphate of Salvinia minima through a system of artificial wetlands and propose it as a sustainable alternative for wastewater treatment. Physicochemical analyzes were carried out for 13 days, evaluating various parameters such as concentration, pH, total dissolved solids and electrical conductivity of the water samples with different concentrations of phosphate. It was found that the removal percentage was 10.60%, 26.09%, 18.33%, and 25.81% for the bioreactors with concentrations of 3.5 mg/L, 7.0 mg/L, 10.5 mg/L and 14.0 mg/L of phosphate respectively. According to the results, the application of artificial wetlands with Salvinia minima proved to be adequate in the phytoremediation process of water contaminated by this nutrient. It is recommended to carry out more studies of this type with higher concentrations than those studied in this investigation.

AUTHORS

Iris Atencio
Víctor Castro
Kristel Miranda
Yarisel González