New insights for enhancing the performance of constructed wetlands at low temperatures

Constructed wetlands (CWs) have been widely utilized for various types of wastewater treatment due to their merits, including high cost-effectiveness and easy operation. However, a few intrinsic drawbacks have always restricted their application and long-term stability, especially their weak performance at temperatures under 10 °C (low temperatures) due to the deterioration of microbial assimilation and plant uptake processes. The existing modifications to improve CWs performance from the direct optimization of internal components to the indirect adjunction of external resources promoted the wastewater treatment efficiency to a certain degree, but the sustainability and sufficiency of pollutants removal remains a challenge. With the goal of optimizing CW components, the integrity of the CW ecosystem and the removal of emerging pollutants, future directions for research should include radiation plant breeding, improvements to CW ecosystems, and the combination or integration of certain treatment processes with CWs to enhance wastewater treatment effects at low temperatures.