Sustainable Treatment of Aquaculture Effluents in Future-A Review

There is a growing contamination of soil and irrigation water by intensive agricultural use and environmentally-unfriendly activity, which is due to the need to generate ever greater quantities of food to meet the demands of the growing population throughout the world. Many aquaculture systems produce high amounts of wastewater containing compounds such as suspended solids, total nitrogen (N) and total phosphorus (P). However, the load of waste is directly proportional to the fish production. Therefore, it is necessary to develop more intensive fish culture with efficient management for wastewater treatment. A number of physical, chemical and biological methods used in conventional wastewater treatment have been applied in aquaculture systems. This review gives an overview about possibilities to avoid the pollution of water resources; it focuses initially on the use of systems combining aquaculture and plants with a historical review of aquaculture and the treatment of its effluents. It discusses the present state, taking into account the load of pollutants in wastewater such as nitrates and phosphates, and finishes with recommendations to prevent or at least reduce the pollution of water resources in the future. All aspects of water treatment play a vital role in intensive fish production, because the control and monitoring of water quality is of significant importance to the success or failure of the aquaculture venture and its production. It is therefore necessary to develop new research applications focused on minimizing or at least reducing the negative impacts of aquaculture effluents on the environment. This review aims at giving an overview about aquaculture systems developed in historical times which could still be valuable for the future generation, about the present problems, and about innovative ideas, especially with respect to the integration of halophytic plants as bio-filter in saline aquaculture systems.