Influence of Aquatic Plants and Flow Rate on Physico-chemical Characteristics of Sewage Effluent Treated through Constructed Wetland Technology
K. Suganya *
Department of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India.
Joneboina Easwar Kumar
Department of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India.
R. Jayashree
Department of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India.
S. Paul Sebastian
Department of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aims: To evaluate the influence of aquatic plants and flow rate on physico-chemical properties of sewage effluent with constructed wetland technology.
Study Design: Randomized block design
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore - 03 and June 2020 – Dec 2020
Methodology: Constructed wetland (CW) model was designed and three different aquatic plants viz., Canna indica, Arundo donax, and Xanthosoma sagittifolium were used for the study. Two different flow rates viz., 5ml/min and 10 ml/min were compared for assessing their influence in treating sewage effluent in the constructed wetlands.
Results: Among the aquatic plants, the pollutants like BOD, COD,TDS and TSS in the sewage effluent were declined and found to be 320, 1220, 666, 22 mg L-1 in Canna indica and 340, 1380, 866, 36 mg L-1 in Xanthosoma sagittifolium and 340, 1380, 866, 36 mg L-1 in Typha angustifolia utilized treatments at flow rates 5 ml/min respectively during 7th day retention time. Similar decreasing trend was observed in BOD, COD, TDS and TSS of the sewage effluent at flow rates of 10 ml/min.
Conclusion: Based on the study, it was evident that constructed wetland (CW) with Canna indica, Xanthosoma sagittifolium and Typha angustifolia found to perform better under flow rate of 5 ml/min for treating sewage effluent at the retention time of 7 days.
Keywords: Aquatic plants, sewage effluent, constructed wetland technology