BIOREMEDIATION OF MUNICIPAL SEWAGE WATER WITH AZOLLA MICROPHYLLA

Population rise coupled with urbanization and industrialization has resulted in over exploitation of ground water resources and lowering of the water table in many areas. The availability of clean water is at stake when the modern agricultural activities demands more water for irrigational activities. Various treatment systems which are a combination of physical, chemical or biological processes are used for purification and recycling of water. But these are expensive and unaffordable to common man. Bioremediation is an excellent, low cost option to ward off the pollutants. It has been successfully used in constructed wetlands, an ecosystem with the assemblage of plants, microbes and the abiotic factors. The paper analyses the ability of Azolla to remove nutrients from secondary treated sewage water which if released directly to water bodies result in eutrophication. The present study analyses the nutrient removal capacity of Azolla from waste water and shows that the growth of Azolla remove 54.8 per cent ammonia, 50 percent total organic carbon, 33.3 percent organic matter, 71.4 per cent nitrite, 68.65 per cent available phosphorous and 80.52 per cent total phosphorous from wastewater and prevents the eutrophication in water bodies.