golnaz ezzati
alireza asghari

People living in remote rural areas are more susceptible to outbreak of waterborne diseases due to lack of proper sewage treatment plants which would also contaminate drinking water sources. On the other hand, water shortage is not fully appreciated either and environmental and economical benefits of water reuse for agricultural activities are often neglected. The current study tries to highlight the advantages of implementing biofilters in rural areas of Iran as an alternative sustainable solution for water and wastewater treatment. Biofiltration has great potential to be used as a versatile pollution control technology and is technically and economically feasible at full or household-scale. Biofilters in water treatment plants purify surface/ ground water resources for potable uses whereas in wastewater treatment, they remove organic material that can cause bacterial regrowth. The high quality effluent produced by biofilters can decrease pressure on remaining freshwater resources by returning the recycled water to the nature for beneficial purposes like agricultural irrigation.

biological treatment, biofilter, water, wastewater, rural, Iran