Ipomoea aquatics and Altenanthera sessilis to Remediate Ground Water Contaminated with Nitrate

Abstract

A study was conducted to assess the feasibility of using Ipomoea aquatica and Altemanthera sessilis to reduce the nitrate nitrogen in ground water. Samples were randomly collected from fifty wells from Chunnakam aquifer and analyzed for nitrate and other chemical properties. The well with the highest nitrate levels was selected for further study. Three different numbers of cuttings (3. 6 and 9) of two species were planted in plastic bottles filled with 3.5 liter of water. Experimental was of 2 x 3 factorial design with three replicates. Other chemical properties were analyzed at the end of four weeks. Highest nitrate N (66.56mg/L) was recorded in well water from Uduvil while the pH, EC, hardness, SO42', and Cl of this water were 8.07,1234 pS/cm, 296.2 mg/L, 141.34 mg/L and 137.85 mg/L, respectively. No significant differences were observed for hardness, SO42- and Cl levels of water among different number of cuttings in both species. Significant differences were observed for pH and EC with different number of cuttings. After four Weeks, significantly highest available water, nitrate removal and available nitrate in water and significantly lowest weight gain percentage were observed in treatments with 3, 9,3 and 3 cuttings, respectively in both species. The highest percentage of weight gain (44.1g), highest nitrate removal (36.95 mg/L) and lowest available nitrate N (25.52 mg/L) were recorded when 9 cuttings of Altemanthera sessilis were planted. Therefore, above results indicate the possibility of using these two plant species to remove nitrate from ground water.