USING WATER HYACINTH TO TREAT MUNICIPAL WASTE-WATER IN THE DESERT SOUTHWEST

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes L.) has shown to be effective in the treatment of municipal wastewater in a pilot study begun in January 1989 by the Pima County Wastewater Management Department and researchers associated with The University of Arizona's Office of Arid Lands Studies in the Sonoran Desert near Tucson. The influent pumped into the pilot facility's six raceways (ponds) typically has been treated secondary effluent diverted from a conventional treatment facility, although primary effluent from the same facility also has been treated. The Secondary Influent Treatment System has met the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) tertiary standard for BOD5 and TSS of 10 mg/l for every month of its operation since March 1990; the Primary Influent Treatment System met the ADEQ secondary standard for BOD5) and TSS of 30 mg/l for most of the 10 months it was in operation.