THE EFFICIENCY OF DUCKWEED (LEMNA MINOR L.) IN TREATING ROW SEWAGE WATER

THE EFFICIENCY OF DUCKWEED (LEMNA MINOR L.) IN TREATING ROW SEWAGE WATER

Amr M.M.A. Al Nagaawy; Eman A. Abd El-Samea

and Naglaa I.I. M. Shalaby

Limnology Dept., Central Lab. For Aquaculture Research, Abbassa, ARC.

Abstract

Because of what the country is going through now from the water poverty, it has become a pressing need for the need to use all available water sources after improving their efficiency. So it was necessary to pay attention to the sewage treatment to determine how they can be used in the farming of timber trees or roses and others.

The efficiency of duckweed (Lemna minor L.) for improving the quality of row sewage water was assessed in a laboratory scale experiment. Total nitrogen and total phosphorus as well as some heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Fe, Zn and Cd) were monitored in row sewage before and after being treated with two dosage (5 or 10 g/l) of Lemna minor. Pathogenic status of the sewage water had been considered through monitoring total bacterial count, total coliform, fecal coliform, Aeromonas sp., Pseudomonas sp., and total fungi. Obtained results indicated that the investigated practice resulted in removing some pollutants from the tested sewage water. The highest removal efficiencies percentages of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, Cu, Fe, Zn and Cd were 97.45, 35.51, 93.33, 99.63, 98.59 and 100 %, respectively. All tested bacteriological parameters values were reduced at the end of the experiment period. The present work revealing that the application of Lemna minor into sewage water, effectively improve its quality.