N1.03 Gonthier 2019 ReNUWIt Annual Meeting Poster

Wastewater effluent is a major exporter of both nutrients and pharmaceuticals to surface waters worldwide, with implications for aquatic ecological functions as well as ecotoxicological and negative human health effects. Passive water treatment processes, such as wetlands, are an appealing method for improving wastewater effluent quality due to their high pollutant removal capacities, low costs, reduced energy needs, and ancillary benefits (e.g. wildlife habitat) beyond water quality improvements compared to conventional tertiary treatment processes.

The Oro Loma Living Levee in San Lorenzo, CA is a demonstration-scale subsurface treatment wetland designed to polish nitrified secondary wastewater effluent as well as attenuate flood waters, provide native wildlife habitat, and help restore the natural land-water interface. Ongoing research into the wetland’s biogeochemical cycling of key elements and transformation of trace organic pollutants shows consistently high removal of both nutrients (e.g. NO3-) and pharmaceuticals (e.g. atenolol). Because natural systems are hubs of microbiological diversity where microorganisms drive constituent transformations, my aim is to elucidate the role of microorganisms in nutrient and pharmaceutical transformations at the Oro Loma Living Levee to improve our understanding of wetland system function.