ROOT ZONE TECHNOLOGY FOR WASTE WATER TREATMENT

Abstract

In India, the primary cause of surface and ground water pollution is the discharge of untreated sewage, according to a 2007 study by the Central Pollution Control Board. In India, there is a significant delay between the generation and treatment of household wastewater. India's insufficient treatment capacity is not the only issue; there are also sewage treatment plants that exist, but they are not being maintained or operated. Because of poor design, inadequate maintenance, unreliable electricity supplies, absentee staff, and incompetent management, the majority of government-owned sewage treatment plants remain closed for the most part of the year. Usually, the wastewater produced in these places evaporates or percolates into the soil. Uncollected waste builds up in urban areas, releasing pollutants that seep into surface and groundwater and creating unsanitary conditions. Furthermore, industrialists prefer not to treat the waste produced and instead to dump it untreated into rivers in the areas where these treatment plants are located because the cost of treatment is so high.The Root Zone Treatment System (RZTS), sometimes referred to as the reed bed system or the constructed wetland system, is a sealed filter bed that is planted with vegetation that can grow in wetlands and is made up of a sand, gravel, and soil system, sometimes with a cohesive element. The wastewater flows through the filter bed, where biodegradation of the wastewater occurs, after the coarse and floating material has been removed. Complex physical, chemical, and biological processes that are the outcome of the interaction of wastewater, wetland plants, filter bed material, and microorganisms define the functional mechanisms in the soil matrix that are in charge of the mineralization of biodegradable matter.