Application of Treatment System Using Lepironiaarticulata and Scirpusgrossus for Drinking Water from Tasikchini, Pahang

Abstract

Lake Water from TasikChini is getting more polluted due to human activities like logging, mining, agriculture and tourism around it. The lake water acts as a source of food and water, and medium of transportation for the indigenous people near the lakeside which explain the need for lake water treatment for their sake. There are many types of treatment for polluted water. Phytoremediation is one ofgreen technologies for polluted water which uses plant and increasingly receiving attention as it is a cost-effective treatment and less destructive compared to others. In this study, phytoremediation in a constructed wetland system is used to treat and produce clean potable water. The whole treatment system consists of 5 tanksplanted with two types of plant species. Tank 1 and 2 were planted with Scirpusgrossusand Lepironiaarticulata, respectively. Tank 3 and 4 were connected in series and consist of S. grossus and L.articulata, respectively while Tank 5 is a control tank with no plants. Tank 1 and 2 managed to remove 99.4% and 100% of colour and COD respectively. The highest removal of ammonia and BOD was recorded inTank 3/4 with 100% and 96%, respectively. The treated water is then compared to Malaysia National Water Quality Standard (NWQS) for drinking water purposes. Tank that produced treated water closest to the standard is Tank 3/4, giving evidence that combination of phytoremediation from two different plants is efficient and can be used for lake water treatment.

Keywords: Constructed wetland, Lepironiaarticulata, Phytoremediation, Drinking water, Scirpusgrossus