Hydroponics With Wastewater: A Review Of Trends And Opportunities

Hydroponics is a method of crop production that has been successfully used for the growth of vegetables and flowers. It uses a nutrient solution and generally controlled environmental conditions which makes it more energy intensive, yet more productive than conventional agriculture. Hydroponic systems can be used as a treatment process for partially treated wastewater or reclaimed water (RW) before its release to the environment, as plants have the ability to uptake nutrients, toxic metals and emerging contaminants. The present review has the aim to look into the advantages of hydroponics and evaluate the success of using RW as a nutrient solution. It was found that many examples exist of successful experiments; however, full-scale examples are still limited. With the recent interest in vertical farming and the production of legal cannabis, interest in hydroponics has increased and the use of RW as a nutrient solution may finally be economically viable.