Treating Wastewater of Pampa River during Pilgrimage Season with Vetiver Zizanioids

The project work aimed at the study of microbiological and physic-chemical water quality of River Pampa, Kerala and their phytoremediation using VetiverZizanioids (V. Z) after pilgrimage season. Sabarimala one of the major pilgrimage centers of South India is located on the banks of River Pampa. The pilgrimage season is from Dec to Feb every year. Pilgrims use river water for various sanitary purposes. The microbiological and physico- chemical chararacteristics like Total Coliform Count, Biological Oxygen Demand and Chemical Oxygen Demand were studied and analysed during Jan2015-May2015 using standard procedures. The water samples were collected from different sites-Triveni, Ranni and Chengannur. The result revealed that Triveni showed most pollution. V. Z is used for the remediation of Triveni by Hydroponic technique. V. Z is chosen as the preferred plant species due to its known efficiency, low cost, ease of propagation and availability. The observed results were tabulated, compared to conclude that V. Z has capable of reducing Coliform Count, COD and BOD on hydroponic technique.