Responses of phytoremediation in urban wastewater with water hyacinths to extreme precipitation

Hongjie Qin; Muhe Diao; Zhiyong Zhang; Petra M Visser; Yingying Zhang; Yan Wang; Shaohua Yan

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110948

Responses of phytoremediation in urban wastewater with water hyacinths to extreme precipitation

J Environ Manage. 2020 Oct 1:271:110948. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110948. Epub 2020 Jul 16.

Authors

Hongjie Qin¹, Muhe Diao², Zhiyong Zhang³, Petra M Visser⁴, Yingying Zhang³, Yan Wang³, Shaohua Yan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Agricultural Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, 100081, China; Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, 210014, China; Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1090 GE, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; China Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory at Yangtze River Plain for Agricultural Environment, Nanjing, 210014, China. Electronic address: hongjieqin111@126.com.
² Leibniz Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany.
³ Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, 210014, China; China Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory at Yangtze River Plain for Agricultural Environment, Nanjing, 210014, China.
⁴ Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1090 GE, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
⁵ Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, 210014, China; China Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory at Yangtze River Plain for Agricultural Environment, Nanjing, 210014, China. Electronic address: shyan@jaas.ac.cn.

PMID: 32778268
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110948

Abstract

Climate change not only intensifies eutrophication and enhances the rainfall, but also elevates the contents of greenhouse gases, which can further increase the intensity and frequency of extreme precipitation events. The effectivity of phytoremediation of urban wastewaters by water hyacinths under an extreme rainfall event (up to 380 mm d^-1) was investigated using self-designed fabrications with six flow rates (2-15 m³ d^-1) in situ on pilot scale for 30 days. The results suggest that water hyacinths had high N and P removal capacities even under adverse conditions such as low dissolved oxygen concentrations (DO, <1 mg L^-1) and high ammonium concentrations (NH₄⁺-N, >7 mg L^-1). Specifically, the highest removal yields of N and P were 13.14 ± 0.47 g N·m^-2·d^-1 and 2.12 ± 0.04 g P·m^-2·d^-1, respectively. The results indicate that water hyacinths can be used for water treatment to reduce the amounts of NH₄⁺-N, dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and phosphate (PO₄^3-) even during extreme precipitation events. Moreover, DO increased due to wet deposition, runoff and surface flows during the extreme rainfall event, resulting in shifts between nitrification and denitrification processes which significantly altered nitrogen forms in urban wastewater. Results of this study suggest that water hyacinths could be recommended as a cost-effective and eco-friendly technology for urban wastewater phytoremediation in areas suffering from frequent extreme precipitation events.

Keywords: Climate change; Extreme precipitation; Phytoremediation; Urban wastewater; Water hyacinth.

MeSH terms

Biodegradation, Environmental
Eichhornia*
Nitrogen / analysis
Wastewater
Water Pollutants, Chemical / analysis*

Substances

Waste Water
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Nitrogen