Review on: Aquatic plants revitalize the lakes by phytoremediation

Abstract

Lakes, a vital component of aquatic ecosystem increasingly threatened by industrial discharge, agricultural runoff and urban wastewater. These pollutants contribute to eutrophication, heavy metal contamination and overall degradation of water quality results in plant growth and algal blooms causes depletion of dissolved oxygen that affect the survival and reproduction of fauna. All that needs is an effective wastewater treatment to achieve environmental sustainability, to keep our water bodies breathing through restoration. Most of the lake restoration technologies viz., adsorption, chemical precipitation, membrane filtration, coagulation–flocculation, the photocatalytic degradation process, ion exchange, oxidation with ozone and electrochemical and flotation approaches require input of chemicals, which makes the technology expensive. Of all the restoration technologies, traditional method of using macrophytes emerged as efficient method for the treatment of contaminated water and for lake restoration through “phytoremediation technique” by manipulating the ecological method in combination with engineered technology (floating method). This method utilizes aquatic species like Eichhornia crassipes (Water Hyacinth), Lemna minor (Duckweed), Pistia stratiotes (Water Lettuce) and Typha latifolia (Cattail) to remove pollutants such as heavy metals, organic pollutants, trace elements and even radioactive materials from the environment through phytoextraction, phytostabilization, rhizofiltration and phytodegradation. Beyond remediation, these plants play a vital role in aquatic ecosystems by contributing to nutrient cycling, enhancing water clarity and serving as both habitat and food sources for various organisms. Their rapid growth, ease of cultivation, high biomass yield, broad availability and strong tolerance to environmental stressors make them ideal candidates for phytotechnology applications. This explores the potentiality of aquatic macrophytes in absorbing the pollutants, reducing nutrient loads and breaking down of harmful compounds and successful lake restoration.