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Wastewater Treatment through Phytoremediation

71% of the entire Earth surface is covered by water, only 0.3% of that total water is
useable to humans. This means that water is essential and to preserve and properly treat it is a
necessity. Water is one of the most basic resource in day to day living. It is used in every aspect
of everyday life. Water sustains our daily lives, homes, communities, industries, and the nation;
however, what happens once the water has been used?

Wastewater is result of human influence against the aquatic environment. Wastewater is a

complex mixture of inorganic and organic materials, it can be divided into domestic wastewater
(also known as sewage), industrial wastewater, and municipal wastewater, which is a mixture of
the two. Wastewater can come from even the most ordinary of living tasks such as: bathing,
toilet flushing, laundry, and, dishwashing. Industrial wastewater comes from non-domestic
sources or factories. This wastewater may contain hazardous materials and require special
treatment for disposal. Stormwater and urban runoff may also be categorized as wastewater. The
United Nations stated in 2017 that 80% of the world’s wastewater, and over 95% in some least
developed countries, is released to the environment without treatment.

80% of the water that is consumed or used in the Philippines is usually referred to as
wastewater, this water eventually drains into bodies of water. According to WHO only 10% of
wastewater is treated in the Philippine, while 58% of the groundwater is contaminated. What’s
even more alarming is that approximately 5% of the total population is connected to a sewer
network. Lack of proper wastewater treatment manifests problem such as waterborne diseases.
About 4,200 people die each year due to contaminated drinking water. Water pollution is
becoming more and more of a challenge to be mitigated. Wastewater treatment or management is
a vital means of conserving the world’s most important natural resource.
 With the ever-pressing problem of water pollution and the slowly diminishing number of
useable water wastewater treatment is becoming essential. Wastewater treatment is the process
of converting wastewater into bilge water that can be discharged back into the environment. The
treatment aims to reduce the contaminants to acceptable levels in order to make the water safe
for discharge. There are several levels of wastewater treatment, these are: primary, secondary
and tertiary levels of treatment. Majority of municipal wastewater treatment facilities use
primary and secondary levels of treatment. The primary level of treatment uses screens and
settling tanks to remove most solids. This step is extremely important, because solids make up
approximately 35 percent of the pollutants that must be removed. Secondary treatment of
wastewater uses bacteria to digest the remaining pollutants. This is accomplished by forcefully
mixing the wastewater with bacteria and oxygen. The oxygen helps the bacteria to digest the
pollutants faster. Tertiary (or advanced) treatment removes dissolved substances, such as color,
metals, organic chemicals and nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen. There are several physical,
chemical and biological treatment processes that are used for tertiary treatment.

The Philippines has also been implementing measures to regulate and properly conduct
wastewater treatment. In 2004 the Philippine Clean Water Act was signed. The Clean Water Act
unifies citizens, industries, communities, local government units, and national government in a
singular movement toward minimizing pollution and promoting the preservation of our country’s
water resources. This law mandated that household should have septic tanks or should be
connected to a sewage network. Maynilad is one of the companies ensuring the proper
wastewater management in the country. Maynilad operates 20 wastewater treatment plants that
process wastewater collected from customers. However, there are plenty of new ways to treat
wastewater. There is a need to innovate and look into new techniques that may suit the needs of
the country better. One other possible way of treating wastewater is Phytoremediation.

Phytoremediation is defined by UNEP (2012a,b) as the use of living green plants for in
situ removal, degradation, and containment of contaminants in soils, surface waters, and
groundwater. This is a bioremediation process that uses various types of plants to remove,
transfer, stabilize, and/or destroy contaminants. There are various strategies for
Phytoremediation. The first is “Phytoextraction”, plants that are tolerant are cultivated to bring
up contaminants from the soil and collect them in aboveground tissues which can be harvested
periodically which thus removes them from the soil for trace of metals. The second is
“Phytostabillization” the plant is able to immobilize contaminants in their roots. This process
limits the risk od leaching and bioavailability of contaminants and as a result of this reduces
greatly the adverse effects to the environment. The third strategy is “Rhizodegradation” in this
strategy plant roots release enzymes into the surrounding soil which stimulates the structural and
functional diversity and activity of microbial communities in the rhizosphere that contribute to
the degradation of organic contaminants. Another strategy for Phytoremediation is
“Phytovolatilization” This kind of phytoremediation involves the utilization of plants to take up
pollutions from contaminated media, transforming them into volatile form and finally transpiring
them into the air.

There are numerous advantages to aquatic Phytoremediation: It is extremely cost

effective, It is environmentally friendly, it does not make use of any complicated or hard to
acquire technology, Phytoremediation is easy to maintain, Can treat almost all kind of
contaminations (organic, inorganic, and radionuclides), and Can be applied in all media.
Phytoremediation seems to be a promising new technology for the treatment of stormwater,
industrial wastewater, and sewage.

This new technique of treating wastewater and soil contamination can be easily applied in
the Philippines. The Philippines is an agricultural country, in the country the temperature and
other external factors are just right to grow and nurture plants. Utilizing plants to treat water will
be the most cost effective and easy way. Creating environmentally friendly solutions for existing
problems will provide a better result with less drawbacks and risks.
 References:

Facilities. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2020, from http://www.mayniladwater.com.ph/facilities-

treatment.php

Farraji , H. (2014). Wastewater Treatment by Phytoremediation Methods. Wastewater Engineering:

Types, Characteristics and Treatment Technologies, 206–218.

Fortuno-Mioten, E. (n.d.). Progress and concerns in wastewater management. Retrieved April 29,

2020, from https://www.bworldonline.com/progress-and-concerns-in-wastewater-management/

Hancock, N. (2016, December 2). Wastewater Treatment. Retrieved April 29, 2020, from

https://www.safewater.org/fact-sheets-1/2017/1/23/wastewater-treatment

Phytoremediation. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2020, from

http://www.cpeo.org/techtree/ttdescript/phytrem.htm

What is Wastewater Treatment? Retrieved from https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/process-

of-wastewater-treatment.php