Chapter 15 - Indigenous techniques to remove metals from contaminated water

Abstract

At present, scale of water pollution calls for timely action. The widely ranging organic and inorganic compounds give rise to water contamination. The heavy metals position themselves among the major inorganic contaminants. These contaminants exceed the maximum admissible limit specified by National and international organizations like WHO (2008), EUC, USEPA, EPA. The metals enter environment together with their fate primarily due to anthropogenic activities. Several physicochemical technologies applying principles of adsorption, electro-dialysis, flotation, precipitation, ion-altercation, ultrafiltration, reverse-osmosis in addition to coagulation/flocculation have already been bought in play to remediate the problem of heavy metal contamination, but these are generally high priced and not highly successful in producing optimum results. The innovations are being made in the trajectory of biological heavy metal depollution using vast array of indigenous techniques to categorize the precise efficacy of various bio agents for definite heavy metal elimination and recovery. These bioremediation techniques is noble preference in contrast to traditional techniques due to its easy operation, availability, wide applicability, sustainability, economical and remarkable remediation effects. Indigenous techniques use numerous agents for instance bacteria, yeast, fungi, algae and plants as key tools in heavy metals cleanup from the surroundings. On account of this, the chapter deeply reviews indigenous bioremediation technologies employing potential species of plants and microorganisms which has been commonly used and reported for heavy metal uptake from contaminated water.