Abstract
Water pollution is presently considered as a serious apprehension in Lebanon. Heavy contamination load of nutrients, heavy metals and organic pollutants can be highly harmful for human health and detrimental to aquatic life and ecosystems. Phytoremediation in natural and constructed wetlands using aquatic macrophytes present a sustainable plant-based technology recognized as a very efficient option in water treatment. The employment of species such as Phragmites, Sparganium, Lemna sp and other aquatic macrophytes not only helps in pollution cleanup but also conserves aquatic communities. To date, two pilot constructed wetlands, Litani River and Bcharreh have been established in Lebanon. These promising initiatives have been, however, accompanied with very limited research studies to examine the role of utilized plants and their efficiency in the remediation process. This paper presents an overview of the status of these initiatives and phytoremediation potential in Lebanon.
Highlights
Rapid urbanization, industrialization, and use of agrochemicals have resulted in major pollution problems of aquatic environments
Freshwater biodiversity recessed by 81% between 1970 and 2012 due to pollution, overexploitation and deterioration of water bodies [4]
The efficiency of the wetland system in phytoremediation and/or the competence of the macrophytes can be affected by different climatic conditions, soil type or aquatic biodiversity [25]. Both natural and constructed wetlands are worldwide considered as a cost-effective and an alternative technology for polluted water and wastewater treatment, they have been increasingly used to successfully remove pollutants from domestic and industrial effluents [11, 14, 26, 27]
Summary
Industrialization, and use of agrochemicals have resulted in major pollution problems of aquatic environments. Excessive nutrients discharge into surface water bodies leads to a process known as eutrophication This phenomenon is characterized by excessive plant and algal growth and reported to cause impairment of many aquatic ecosystems in the world [5]. The processes involved in removing the contaminants include physical processes such as settling and filtration, and chemical processes such as disinfection and coagulation Much of these conventional remediation methods are efficient but economically costly and non-feasible. Phytoremediation efficiency varies among geographic and climatic conditions, and types of pollution [8] It is still in its very early stages in many developing countries where heavy pollution load continues to be delivered into water bodies [20]. The study is hoped to contribute to promoting phytoremediation option and its use in polluted water and wastewater treatment in the country
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