Role of Typha (Cattail) and Phragmites austrailes (Reed Plant) in Domestic Wastewater Treatment

摘要

Shortage of good quality irrigation water is a serious problem of many arid and semi-arid countries of the world for sustainable irrigated agriculture. Among these, Saudi Arabia is facing acute water shortage due to increased population coupled with recent rural and urban development. Besides, it has resulted in manifolds increases in wastewater production containing organic, inorganic and biological pollutants thus enhancing the environmental and health problems upon its land disposal. Presently, the conventional wastewater treatment technologies available are expensive and difficult to apply at small scale. The main objective of this study was to investigate the use of green plants as a ?Natural Way of Wastewater Treatment? that might prove cost effective and can easily be adopted at small scale. A significant reduction in BOD and COD contents was observed in the treated wastewater as compared to the raw effluent. The concentration of trace elements such as Cu and Fe decrease, but those of Zn and Mn increased both under Typha and Phragmites austrailes green plants. Similarly, NH4 and PO4 decreased but NO3 increased considerably than the control (raw effluent) in the natural treatments. The concentration of all the trace elements was above the maximum allowable limits except NH4, NO3 and PO4 which was within acceptable limits for irrigation use. In conclusion, the research findings showed potential of green plants for heavy metal removal from wastewater to improve its quality acceptable for agriculture use.