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Aquatic Plants for Wastewater Treatment
| Article
# : |
13872 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1988 |
1,986 Words |
| Author
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B.C. Wolverton
B.C. Wolverton is a senior research scientist of the
Environmental Research Laboratory at the NASA Stennis Space
Center, Mississippi. |
We depend on earth's fragile ecological and atmospheric balance for our survival. Increased industrial development and population growth threaten this balance. Our limited supply of fresh water is being contaminated with human and industrial waste at an alarming rate, and our atmosphere is becoming polluted with the by-products of manufacturing.
Up to this point the most widely used wastewater treatments, such as trickling filters, have been mechanical. Such plants have proven to be too complex, costly, and energy-intensive, especially in small towns and rural areas in the United States and throughout developing countries. Wastewater treatment systems which are simple and require little or no maintenance must be developed to fulfill these needs.
It is becoming evident that aquatic plants have great potential for wastewater treatment and reclamation because their photosynthetic systems can revitalize the atmosphere and purify the water. As this technology has come to the forefront, many people are recognizing that aquatic plants have vast capabilities to restore the depleted resources of the earth.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has emerged as a leader in developing this technology because of its research into closed ecological life-support systems for space travel and colonization. NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi supports the utilization of space technology to solve some immediate problems such as wastewater treatment and water reuse.
The How and Why
The biological processes involved in using aquatic plants for wastewater treatment are very simple. The aquatic plant roots, bacteria, and other microorganisms play major roles in this process; each has its own function.
The plants are grown hydroponically (in the absence of soil) in a filter made of rocks that the wastewater flows through. Their roots, which are home to large numbers of bacteria and other microorganisms, extend into the wastewater. These microorganisms feed off the minerals and organic chemicals that pollute the wastewater. While digesting the pollutants, the microorganisms produce by-products such as sugars and amino acids, which are absorbed by the plant roots as food. The plants in turn supply oxygen and low levels of nutrients to the microorganisms for their rapid growth. This mutually beneficial, or symbiotic, relationship
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