Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment Workshop

On November 12th and 19th, the Tulane City Center and the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research hosted a workshop titled Using Natural Systems for Water Quality Improvement. The workshop was led by Dr Mark Bayley, an environmental engineer and constructed wetlands specialist being hosted by the TCC on a research grant from the Australian Research Council. Dr Bayley presented to a mixed group of students, faculty and representatives from a range of our community partners in the New Orleans area including the New Orleans Food and Farm Network and the Priestly Charter School for Architecture and Construction.

The two-part workshop walked participants through a range of topics including a description of common pollutants in different types of wastewater, different methods to treat these pollutants and generally improve water quality, and how to design a complete system for a specific situation. Participants spent the second session designing a system to address a defined wastewater problem. This workshop is the first in what we hope is an ongoing series of interdisciplinary workshops that help our design and community development community bring innovative and functional solutions to the New Orleans area.