Phytoremediation of pollutants from wastewater using hydrophytes: A case study of Islamabad, Pakistan

In this study, phytoremediation technique using two hydrophytes such as Common Duckweed (Lemnoideae) and Water Lettuce (Pistia stratoites) were used to treat the waste water generated from Chakshahzad, Islamabad. Physico-chemical parameters, including pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Turbidity, Hardness, Bicarbonates, Calcium, Calcium Carbonate, Chloride and Magnesium were assessed before and after the treatment. For this purpose, Common Duckweed (Lemnoideae) and Water Lettuce (Pistia stratoites) were planted in four different tubs (two tubs for each specie) to find their removal efficiency. The selected Physico-chemical parameters were tested through the initial Pre-test, while after the adding of these species to waste water three Post-test were done. Result shows that more changes were reported in the values of selected parameters at five (5) days interval. These results were compared with the standard values set by Pakistan-National Environmental Quality Standards (PAK-NEQs). The values of all Physico-chemical parameters were reduced to the permissible limits of PAK-NEQs. Although, some parameters were much closed to the threshold level. Results proposed that both species Water Lettuce (Pistia stratoites) and Common Duckweed (Lemnoideae) have a potential to treat the wastewater. Moreover, Common Duckweed (Lemnoideae) showed a better pollutants removal and have a greater efficiency than Water Lettuce (Pistia stratoites). However, such type of wastewater without any treatment may cause the pollution of surface and ground water. Therefore, it is recommended that the government and responsible agencies must take formal actions and to make laws and policies to regularly monitor water quality and also awareness programs should be launched. published by the Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences | JBES