Phytoremediation of Nitrogen-Polluted Water Using Water Hyacinth

ABSTRACT

Aquatic plants can be used for treating eutrophicated water in a simple and cost-effective manner, but many such plant systems remain to be characterized. The effects of growing Eichhornia crassipes on removal of nitrogen (N) from the eutrophicated water were investigated in a large-scale enclosure system installed in hyper-eutrophicated water in Hua-jia-chi pond, Hangzhou city, China. Total N concentration in the enclosures decreased from 2.1 to 0.50 mg L^{− 1} after growing Eichhornia crassipes for 44 d. Ammonium concentration decreased at least 2-fold after plant growth. Nitrite concentration decreased to below detection limit after growing Eichhornia crassipes for only 14 d and was maintained at that level afterwards. Chlorophyll a concentration (an indicator of water eutrophication) decreased to 10 μ g L^{− 1} after 44 d. The water transparency increased significantly, reaching the depth of 1.8 m (i.e., to the bottom of the pond) after 44 d. Eichhornia crassipes removed 21.7 kg nitrogen from 6,000 t of hyper-eutrophicated water in the enclosures, thus quickly and effectively improving the water quality. Growing Eichhornia crassipes is the first step toward re-establishing natural ecosystem functions in eutrophicated water bodies.

Keywords:

• ammonium
• Eichhornia crassipes
• eutrophicated water
• nitrite
• nitrogen removal
• phytoremediation

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was financially supported by the key project (#[2002]168) from the Chinese Ministry of Education and the China-Australia special cooperative project (#[2003]58) from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, and the Department of Education, Science and Training, Australia.