An electrochemical analysis of acute contamination of environmental water and restoring of water quality using taro carbon

Abstract

Electrochemical techniques were successfully employed to estimate contamination of water of river Buriganga, Bangladesh. A Pt–Cu electrode has been exploited to measure selective nitrate concentration, and corrosion rate of iron has been proposed to indicate relative abundance of dissolved contaminants. In order to evaluate the pollution level, water parameters of river Buriganga have been compared with those obtained from two freshwater streams named Surma and Dawki of the country. An iron strip in contact with Buriganga river water is corroded three times rapidly compared to its contact with Dawki or Surma river water indicates acute contamination of Buriganga river water. The River Buriganga is facing acute pollution from the point of high TDS (0.664–0.694 g/L), low DO (1.47–4.4 mg/L), high COD (197–218 mg/L), high ammonia (270–420 mg/L) and high nitrate concentration (107–157 mg/L). Negative ORP value (− 292 to − 310 mV) of Buriganga river water indicates that the stream contains high level reducing species. Meanwhile, positive ORP value indicates that Dawki (+ 203 to + 209 mV) and Surma (+ 184 to + 205 mV) river water contain oxidizing species. Sediment analysis shows the deposition of disintegrated organic pollutants on the bottom of the River Buriganga. Cost-effective carbon material synthesized from taro stems has been proposed to restore water parameters of filthy water system like Buriganga river.