Potentialities of plant based hybrid wetland systems for the treatment of household waste water using Canna indica, Agave americana, Pistia stratiotes and Tagetes erecta

Abstract

The ever increasing population is generating large amount of waste water and it is increasing with time especially with the higher per capita consumption of water in the country. Besides, the ample amount of energy required by the conventional water treatment methods is hampering the economic viability of the procedure. This asks for newer and efficient low cost nature based water treatment system which along with cost takes into consideration the sustainability of the ecosystem. In this study a hybrid plant based wetland system consisting of four plant species were used to treat the household grey water. Agave americana and Tagetes erecta were used in constructed wetland, Canna indica plant was used in floating raft wetland and Pistia stratiotes in oxidation pond for a period of 24 h retention to know the efficiency. The pollution reduction was analysed after 2 h, 4 h, 6 h, 8 h and 24 h hydraulic retention period (HRT) in all these systems. Three parameters basically BOD, COD and salinity reduction were checked as an initial research to know the viability. The results showed that BOD reduction ranged from 6.67 to 41.18% in various systems within 24 h of retention, whereas COD showed a reduction range of 5.32–35.47% and salinity exhibited a reduction range of 6.93–21.49% based on the different systems.