Abstract
Floating treatment wetlands (FTWs), consisting of vegetated rafts, may reduce heavy metal levels in polluted water, but the choice of plant species for efficient metal removal needs to be further investigated. We screened the capacity of 34 wetland plant species to remove metals dissolved in water to identify suitable species for FTWs. The plants were grown hydroponically for 5 days in a solution containing 1.2 µg Cd L−1, 68.5 µg Cu L−1, 78.4 µg Pb L−1, and 559 µg Zn L−1. Results show large variation in metal removal rate and capacity between the investigated species. The species with highest removal capacity could remove up to 52–94% of the metals already after 0.5 h of exposure and up to 98–100% of the metals after 5 days of exposure. Plant size contributed more to high removal capacity than did removal per unit of fine roots. Carex pseudocyperus and C. riparia were the most efficient and versatile species. The findings of this study should be considered as a starting point for further investigation of plant selection for improved water purification by FTWs.
Highlights
Wetland plant species are able to remove heavy metals from the surrounding environment, which can be utilized for purification of polluted waters
Plants in general decreased the concentration of all tested metals in the water, and only a small share of the metals remained in the water at the end of the experiment for most of the investigated plant species (Figure 1 and Figure 2)
We conclude that the ability of wetland plants to remove heavy metals from water differs between species under identical conditions
Summary
Wetland plant species are able to remove heavy metals from the surrounding environment, which can be utilized for purification of polluted waters. One such application is treatment of polluted stormwater, which is a growing problem due to increased traffic and heavy rains [1]. A common management of stormwater is stormwater ponds that collects and delays large water masses to prevent flooding. In these ponds, particulate heavy metals are effectively removed through sedimentation, but dissolved metals, proven to be more bioavailable than particulate metals, are insufficiently removed [2,3]. FTWs consist of rafts supporting emergent plants growing hydroponically, providing direct contact between the plant roots and the polluted water [7]
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