Contact Dr Gabriela Dotro
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 754552
- Email: g.c.dotro@cranfield.ac.uk
- ORCID
Areas of expertise
- Water Science and Engineering
Background
Dr Gabriela Dotro joined Cranfield University in October 2009 as a postdoctoral researcher and was promoted to Senior Research Fellow in April 2012. She holds an Ecological Engineering degree from Universidad de Flores (Argentina), a Masters degree in Environmental Design from the University of Calgary (Canada), and a PhD in Engineering from the University of Memphis (USA).
Dr Dotro started her work on nature-based solutions (NbS) for wastewater treatment during her Masters studies in Canada in 2001. She was awarded a Detomasi Award in recognition of the quality of her proposal for her Masters studies, and received a merit-based Herff Fellowship for her PhD studies, among several other fellowships and scholarships during her formal training.
After completing her PhD, Dr Dotro was awarded a Herff Postdoctoral Fellowship to continue her work on implementing constructed wetlands for tannery wastewater treatment in Argentina. She also served briefly as a lecturer on biological wastewater treatment processes at the Universidad Nacional del Litoral in Argentina before relocating to the UK in September 2009.
Research opportunities
Understand the underlying processes that can enable a novel bioreactor recover iron salts from sludge for reuse within the water industry, thus contributing to the circular economy with applied research:
https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/research/phd/swee-biological-coagulant-recovery
Current activities
Dr Gabriela Dotro's main area of expertise are nature based solutions for wastewater treatment and understanding biogeochemical transformation of phosphorus, iron and nitrate in natural and engineered systems. She is currently working on the development and improvement of nature based solutions to deliver multiple benefits including greenhouse gas accounting and carbon sequestration with treatment wetlands, intensification of wetland technology for small wastewater treatment plant discharges, phosphorus cycling in surface flow wetlands as well as developing a novel biological reactor for metal recovery.
Dr Dotro co-created the Wastewater Network, a network of water companies and universities that meets regularly to address some of the key challenges and research gaps in wastewater treatment in the UK. Together with a team of internationally-renowned academics and practitioners, she developed a fully-online short course on nature based solutions (www.cranfield.ac.uk/nbs) that runs annually. She has also delivered targeted in-company training on topics like treatment wetlands and low energy wastewater treatment.
Dr Dotro serves in the Committee of the Constructed Wetland Association (UK) and is a member of the Management Committee for the IWA Specialist Group on Wetland Systems for Water Pollution Control and the IWA Working Group on NbS for Water and Sanitation. Whilst chairing the IWA Task Group on Mainstreaming the Use of Treatment Wetlands, she co-authored an Open Access textbook on Treatment Wetlands, edited and co-authored specific chapters within the IWA Scientific and Technical Report on Wetland Technology. She is also a member of the EBNet working group on N2O emissions from environmental biotechnologies (https://ebnet.ac.uk/about/wg-details/wg-nox/).
Clients
- Severn Trent Water
- United Utilities
- Scottish Water
- Anglian Water
- Southern Water
- Wessex Water
- Thames Water
- Welsh Water
- Northumbrian Water
- Yorkshire Water
- Irish Water
- Environment Agency
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- Natural Environment Research Council
- Mott MacDonald
- Abydoz
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Wybrow J, Lyu T, Dotro G & Jefferson B (2022) Constructed wetlands, micropollutants and climate change, Royal Society of Chemistry ECG Bulletin (July).
- Dale G, Dotro G, Srivastava P, Austin D, Hutchinson S, Head P, Goonetilleke A, Stefanakis A, Junge R, Fernández LJA, Weyer V, Truter W, Bühler D, Bennett J, Liu H, Li Z, Du J, Schneider P, Hack J & Schönborn A (2021) Education in ecological engineering – A need whose time has come, Circular Economy and Sustainability, 1 333-373.
- Barak J, Dotro G & Jefferson B (2019) The role of concentrations gradients on phosphorus and iron dynamics from chemically-dosed horizontal flow wetlands for tertiary sewage treatment, Water Science and Technology, 79 (11) 2126-2134.
- Khomenko O, Dotro G, Jefferson B, Coulon F, Bajón Fernandez Y, (2019) Influence of sludge layer properties on the hydraulic behaviour of gravel-based vertical flow constructed wetlands for primary treatment of sewage, Science of the Total Environment, 691 (November) 1137-1143.
- Hargreaves A, Vale P, Whelan J, Alibardi L, Constantino C, Dotro G, Cartmell E & Campo P (2018) Impacts of coagulation-flocculation treatment on the size distribution and bioavailability of trace metals (Cu, Pb, Ni, Zn) in municipal wastewater, Water Research, 128 (January) 120-128.
- Hargreaves AJ, Vale P, Whelan J, Alibardi L, Constantino C, Dotro G, Cartmell E & Campo P (2018) Coagulation–flocculation process with metal salts, synthetic polymers and biopolymers for the removal of trace metals (Cu, Pb, Ni, Zn) from municipal wastewater, Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 20 (2) 393-402.
- Besançon A, Le Corre KS, Dotro G & Jefferson B (2017) Assessment of activated sludge, membrane bioreactors and vertical flow wetlands for upgrading sewage treatment works, Environmental Technology, 38 (2) 154-162.
- Dotro G, Mander ü & Rousseau D (2017) WETPOL 2015: Closing the gap between natural and constructed wetlands research, Ecological Engineering, 98 286-289.
- Hargreaves AJ, Vale P, Whelan J, Constantino C, Dotro G, Campo P & Cartmell E (2017) Distribution of trace metals (Cu, Pb, Ni, Zn) between particulate, colloidal and truly dissolved fractions in wastewater treatment, Chemosphere, 175 (May) 239-246.
- Hargreaves AJ, Vale P, Whelan J, Constantino C, Dotro G & Cartmell E (2016) Mercury and antimony in wastewater: fate and treatment, Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 227 (3) Article No. 89.
- Butterworth E, Richards A, Jones M, Brix H, Dotro G & Jefferson B (2016) Impact of aeration on macrophyte establishment in sub-surface constructed wetlands used for tertiary treatment of sewage, Ecological Engineering, 91 (June) 65-73.
- Butterworth E, Richards A, Jones M, Mansi G, Ranieri E, Dotro G & Jefferson B (2016) Performance of Four Full-Scale Artificially Aerated Horizontal Flow Constructed Wetlands for Domestic Wastewater Treatment, Water (Switzerland), 8 (8) 1-15.
- Butterworth E, Richards A, Jones M, Dotro G & Jefferson B (2016) Assessing the potential for tertiary nitrification in sub-surface flow constructed wetlands, Environmental Technology Reviews, 5 (1) 68-77.
- Mander U, Dotro G, Ebie Y, Towprayoon S, Chiemchaisri C, Nogueira SF, Jamsranjav B, Kasak K, Truu J, Tournebize J & Mitsch WJ (2014) Greenhouse gas emission in constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment: A review, Ecological Engineering, 66 19-35.
- Black G, Jones M, Vale P, Johnson N, Nocker A, Cartmell E & Dotro G (2014) Biofilm responses to toxic shocks in closed pipes: using nitrous oxide emissions as an early warning of toxicity ahead of a wastewater treatment works, Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 225 (2) Article No. 1837.
- Stafford B, Dotro G, Vale P, Jefferson B & Jarvis P (2014) Removal of phosphorus from trickling filter effluent by electrocoagulation, Environmental Technology, 35 (24) 3139-3146.
- Butterworth E, Dotro G, Jones M, Richards A, Onunkwo P, Narroway Y & Jefferson B (2013) Effect of artificial aeration on tertiary nitrification in a full-scale subsurface horizontal flow constructed wetland, Ecological Engineering, 54 236-244.
- Aboobakar A, Jones M, Vale P, Cartmell E & Dotro G (2013) Methane emissions from aerated zones in a full-scale nitrifying activated sludge treatment plant, Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 225 (1) Article No. 1814.
- Aboobakar A, Cartmell E, Stephenson T, Jones M, Vale P & Dotro G (2013) Nitrous oxide emissions and dissolved oxygen profiling in a full-scale nitrifying activated sludge treatment plant, Water Research, 47 (2) 524-534.
- Nivala J, Knowles P, Dotro G, Garcia J & Wallace S (2012) Clogging in subsurface-flow treatment wetlands: measurement, modeling and management., Water Research, 46 (6) 1625-1640.
- Dotro G, Castro S, Tujchneider O, Piovano N, Paris M, Faggi A, Palazolo P, Larsen D & Fitch M (2012) Performance of pilot-scale constructed wetlands for secondary treatment of chromium-bearing tannery wastewaters, Journal of Hazardous Materials, 239-240 142-151.
- Dotro G, Larsen D & Palazolo P (2011) Treatment of chromium-bearing wastewaters with constructed wetlands, Water and Environment Journal, 25 (2) 241-249.
- Dotro G, Jefferson B, Jones M, Vale P, Cartmell E & Stephenson T (2011) A review of the impact and potential of intermittent aeration on continuous flow nitrifying activated sludge, Environmental Technology, 32 (15) 1685-1697.
- Knowles P, Dotro G, Nivala J & García J (2010) Clogging in subsurface-flow treatment wetlands: Occurrence and contributing factors, Ecological Engineering, 37 (2) 99-112.
- Dotro G, Larsen D & Palazolo P (2010) Preliminary evaluation of biological and physical-chemical chromium removal mechanisms in gravel media used in constructed wetlands, Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 215 (1-4) 507-515.
- Dotro G, Palazolo P & Larsen D (2009) Chromium fate in constructed wetlands treating tannery wastewaters., Water Environment Research, 81 (6) 617-625.
Books
- Langergraber G, Dotro G, Nivala J, Stein OR, Rizzo A (eds), (2019) Wetland Technology: Practical information on the design and application of treatment wetlands, London: IWA.
- Gabriela Dotro, Guenter Langergraber, Pascal Molle, Jaime Nivala, Jaume Puigagut, Otto Stein & Marcos Von Sperling (2017) Treatment Wetlands: Biological Wastewater Treatment Volume 7. IWAP, ed. Volume 7.
- Dotro G, Fort RP, Barak J, Jones M, Vale P & Jefferson B (2014) Long-Term Performance of Constructed Wetlands with Chemical Dosing for Phosphorus Removal. In: The Role of Natural and Constructed Wetlands in Nutrient Cycling and Retention on the Landscape, Springer International Publishing, p. 273-292.
