Efficacy of Aquatic Plants for Removal of Heavy Metals from Wastewater

Abstract

Wastewater treatment is a problem of grave concern in most developing countries. In the last two decades, there has been a lot of research to develop appropriate technologies to alleviate pollution in water resources. Efficient wastewater treatments through conventional methods are expensive and difficult to get optimum results. Currently, phytoremediation is an effective and affordable solution used to remediate toxic pollutants from aquatic ecosystems. The review describes various aquatic plants, which have high potential to remove heavy metals from wastewater. Key-wordsWater pollution, Heavy metals, Phytoremediation, Aquatic plants, Wastewater treatment INTRODUCTION Water pollution by heavy metal ions is one of the worldwide environmental problems [1] . Heavy metal pollution due to increased industrialization and urbanization is a global problem. Toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, copper, lead, chromium, zinc, and nickel are important environmental pollutants, particularly in areas with high anthropogenic pressure. They can’t be biodegraded so released into the environment and contribute to lots of toxic effects even in relatively lower concentrations on living organisms in food chain [2-6] by bioaccumulation and bio-magnification [7] . Several methods already used to clean up the environment from these heavy metals including chemical precipitation, oxidation or reduction, filtration, ion exchange, reverse osmosis, membrane technology, evaporation and electrochemical treatment (but most of them are expensive, time consuming and environmentally destructive [8] . Therefore, it is essential for a remediation technology to be effective, economic/affordable, and consistent; moreover, it should effectively reduce HM concentrations to environmentally acceptable levels, and be applicable to field conditions such as effluents and aquatic bodies. Currently, phytoremediation of metals is an effective and affordable “green” technology based on the use of specially selected metal accumulating plants to remove toxic metals from soils and water. Access this article online Quick Response Code Website: