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Microplastic stress reshapes nitrogen removal, microbial networks and metabolism mechanisms in vertical flow constructed wetlands
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Scientists found that tiny plastic particles (microplastics like polystyrene and PVC) can seriously mess up the natural water treatment systems—called constructed wetlands—that are supposed to filter out harmful nitrogen waste from wastewater. In lab tests, these microplastics disrupted the helpful bacteria that break down nitrogen pollution, cutting the wetlands' cleaning efficiency by roughly half or more. This matters because if microplastics are weakening these treatment systems in the real world, wastewater could end up releasing more nitrogen pollution into rivers and lakes, potentially harming water qu
Vertical flow constructed wetlands (VFCWs) are widely recommended for onsite wastewater treatment. Limited research is available on how microplastics (MPs), particularly polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), alter biological nitrogen transformation in VFCWs. This study investigates the influence of MPs (PS and PVC) on the nitrification-denitrification, microbial community structure and metabolic functioning in VFCWs, operated under two phases, i.e., Phase-I (control) and Phase-II (with MPs), for 180 days, and changes in removal efficiency (ammonium-N (NH 4 + -N); nitrite (NO 2 -N); nitrate-N (NO 3 -N); total nitrogen (TN)) and microbial community structure were recorded. Results suggested that MPs affect the nitrogen removal performance of VFCWs, with a decrease in NH 4 + -N, NO 3 -N, and TN removal efficiencies by 63.87 – 70.38%, 47.90 – 64.04%, and 39.3 – 55.33%, respectively, compared to Phase-I. MPs inhibited the abundance of nitrifiers ( Nitrospira and Tepidiforma ) and suppressed key functional genes ( amoA , hao and nxrA ) while enriching dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA)-associated keystone taxa (e.g., Anaeromyxobacter, Tepidisphaera, Pseudomonas ) and denitrification markers ( nirK, nirS, nosZ ). Overall, VFCW-I (PS) demonstrated better functional resilience than VFCW-II (PVC), but both showed disrupted microbial equilibrium and reduced nitrogen removal. However, our conclusions were derived from lab-scale CWs; we expect these findings to offer valuable insights for developing an effective policy framework to manage and mitigate the MPs pollution in real-world wetlands.
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Polystyrene microplastics accumulation in lab-scale vertical flow constructed wetlands: impacts and fate
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Researchers tested how polystyrene microplastics affect constructed wetlands, a nature-based system used to treat wastewater. They found that while the wetlands still removed most pollutants effectively, nitrogen removal decreased by up to 5% in the presence of microplastics, and the particles accumulated mainly in the upper layers of the wetland substrate. The study suggests that microplastics can alter the microbial communities responsible for breaking down nitrogen in these treatment systems.
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Polystyrene microplastics initially boosted nitrogen removal in constructed wetlands used for water treatment, but over time they reduced removal efficiency by 25-34% and harmed the beneficial bacteria responsible for cleaning the water. This means microplastic contamination could undermine natural water treatment systems that communities rely on for clean water.
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