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Plight of Agro-irrigation Near Kala Sanghian Drain-A Systematic Case Study

and Road Map for Sustainable Technologies

Article  in  Annals of Biology · July 2018

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Annals of Biology 34 (2) : 229-234, 2018

Plight of Agro-irrigation Near Kala Sanghian Drain–A Systematic Case Study

and Road Map for Sustainable Technologies
ANJU MANGOTRA*, SHAILESH KUMAR SINGH1 AND R. S. SAI MURALI2
Department of Botany, School of Bioengineering and Biosciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara-144 411
(Punjab), India
*(e-mail : anju20004@gmail.com; geetanjali31leo@rediffmail.com; Phone : 0181-2239494)

ABSTRACT

Industries are milestones for the development and welfare of any nation. Despite the tremendous success industries bring
about, there are several industries that are persistently discharging toxic effluents into the water bodies effecting flora,
fauna and human populations. At a regional level, regardless of the efforts of Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), the
practice of discharging domestic wastes and untreated industrial effluents into drains, rivulets and water channels has been
unprecedented. Kala Sanghian Drain is one among the various thoroughly polluted water bodies. It receives the noxious
effluents from tannery industries of leather complex and electroplating industries situated at focal point. The pestilential
effluents are deteriorating the environment and health of the human populations in Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts. The
crops that are grown on the banks of Kala Sanghian Drain are undoubtedly affected by the polluted water of the drain. Upon
entering the Sutlej river, this contaminated water has a bearing on agricultural farms of the entire Malwa belt of Punjab and
some parts of Rajasthan.Till date, the scientific community has not plunged into analyzing the composition of waste water
in this drain. Suggesting the officials or people at large without rational explanation would have futile results. Keeping
things in perspective, analyzing the waste water of Kala Sanghian Drain and sharing the understanding would have
considerable impact on various stake holders in the implementation of guidelines of the pollution control board. Additionally,
developing cost-effective and ecofriendly technologies to treat waste water effluents right at the point of discharge would
help protect the water bodies and environment at large. This article focuses on strategies to analyze the composition of
waste water of Kala Sanghian Drain and various eco-friendly technologies with their plausible role in ecofriendly irrigation.

Key words : Toxic effluents, eco-friendly technologies, waste water, bioremediation

INTRODUCTION technologies to clean up water bodies at a regional

The domestic and industrial effluents contain loads
of pollutants with considerable threat to humans and
environment (Chekroun et al., 2014). Releasing
effluent waste waters according to the guidelines
given by international and national agencies would
keep a check on the contamination of various water
bodies. However, abiding by this in letter and spirit
is still a farfetched dream for many countries (Gupta
et al., 2015). Afflicting tens of thousands of people
all across the continents, water pollutants stand as
one of the major threats to mankind and environment
(Abbas et al., 2014). The condition of Kala Sanghian
Drain is one such sorry state of affairs in India. The
severity of pollution of this drain is presented in Fig.
1. Several developed nations, for example, Australia,
Universities have come forward to assist remediation
of industrial effluents by establishing treatment plants
right at the effluent outlets of the industries (June,
1999; González et al., 1997). Advocating
1
Department of Horticulture.
2
Division of Research and Development.
level will truly make a difference in the global
perspective.
Many approaches have been applied so far to treat the
contaminated waste water. Though effective to certain
degree, the physico-chemical methods failed due to
tremendous setbacks (González et al., 1982; Lorenz
and Wackernagel, 1994; Brar et al., 2006; Kurniawan
et al., 2006; Barakat, 2011; Bhatnagar and Kumari,
2013; Bilal et al., 2013). These effects attracted the
interest of researchers towards biologicals suitable for
eco-friendly techniques. The various biological agents
used to treat polluted water are bacteria, fungi, algae
and higher plants. But all the biological methods also
have certain drawbacks. Hence, there is not a single
technology without setbacks. Restoring measures and
finding improved solutions for sustainable eco-friendly
technologies help resolving critical environmental
issues. To this end, this article aims at bringing out
plausible applications of conventinal and biological
methods of waste water remediation.
230 Mangotra, Singh and Murali
Fig. 1. Snapshots of Kala Sanghian Drain depicting the polluted condition.
Waste Water Pollution – A Global and Regional
Phenomenon
Often times, industrialization is known as a
necessary evil due to its consequences on ecological
balance (Nriagu and Pacyna, 1988). Being
inattentive to pollution control norms, several
industries are consecutively adding toxic elements
into the drains. In Fig. 2a,b, the release of
contaminants by industries into the environment and
water bodies in specific is illustrated, respectively.
It is noted that 3.44 billion pounds of wastes have
been disposed by industries in 2016; in both on-
site and off-site forms (Fig. 2c).
Among the major elements present in releases, zinc
occupies the first position with 21% followed by
lead 19% (Fig. 2d). Industry-wise contribution of
wastes is given in Fig. 2e.
Waste Water Treatment – A Persistent Problem :
Industrial Toxic Effluents
Industrial waste water effluents comprise a mixture
of both organic and inorganic pollutants. The organic
pollutants include polychlorinated biphenyls,
bisphenol, benzene, toluene, nepthalene, pyrene,
phenanthacene, prometyrne, mesotyrne and other
xenobiotics. Similarly, inorganic pollutants include
cobalt, cadmium, copper, antimony, barium and nickel
(Chekroun and Baghour, 2013).
Domestic wastes : Microrganisms, biodegradable
organic materials, nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus,
ammonium), metals (mercury, lead, cadmium,
chromium, copper, nickel), hydrogen sulphide, etc.
pertain to domestic wastes. The main sources of
domestic waste water are bathrooms, dishwash, toilets,
etc.
Natural wastes : Humic acid, fulvic acid and humate
coated inorganic particles are principles complexing
agents in waste water.
Effluent Composition of Tannery and
Electroplating Industries
Various pollutants of tannery industries are azodyes,
cadmium, chromium, barium, nickel, cobalt, antimony,
polychlorinated biphenyls, formaldehyde resins and
pesticides residues.
Methodological Approaches to Treat Polluted
Waste Water for Irrigation : Physico-chemical
There are many physico-chemical methods that are in
place to treat polluted waste water. But these methods
have both advantages and disadvantages in removal
of metals like copper ( Kurniawan et al., 2006; Bilal
et al., 2013).
Biological : The biological methods are considered
 Agro-irrigation near Kala Sanghian Drain–A sustainable technology 231

(Adopted from TRI Programme of EPA)

Fig. 2 (a). Release of pollutants by industries over a decade; (b) trend in the chemical release into water bodies;
(c) disposal of wastes by industries in 2016; (d) contribution of elements released by industries and (e)
industrial contribution in the release of pollutants.

as the efficient means of removing bulk of pollutants
present in environment and are getting more preference
to conventional methods. The enlisted biosorbents are
bacteria, algae, fungi, higher plants and agricultural
wastes.
Bacteria as bioremediators : Bacterial strains are
predominantly known for metal detoxification.
Pseudomonas sp. and Bravibacterium casei exhibited
80 and 70% of efficiency for mercury, respectively
(Rehman et al., 2007). Pseudomonas sp., Microcoocus
sp. and Enterobacter sp. remediated 80, 85 and 90%
lead, respectively ( Hussein et al., 2004; Lu et al.,
2006; Gabr et al., 2008). Enterobacter sp. have shown
90% efficiency for cadmium (Lu et al., 2006).
Rhodobacter sphreiodes reported to have the capacity
to reduced 89% of COD (Nagadomi et al., 2000).
Enterococcus sp. have been reported to reduced BOD
near about 94% (Da Silva et al., 2005). Approximately
80% of lead has been remediated by Pseudomonas
putida (Gabr et al., 2008). Pseudomonas sp. have
shown the capacity to reduce the deadly element
uranium (Barton et al., 1996).
Fungi as bioremediators : Aspergillus niger has
reduced 99% arsenic and 92% chromium based on
empirical evidence (Pokhrel and Viraraghavan, 2006;
Congeevaram et al., 2007). Sacchromyces cerevisae
have been reported to remove 95% chromium.
Aspergillus cristatus have been found to
decontaminate 98% and Candida utilis to the level of
100% decontamination of cadmium (Kujan et al.,
2006; Saifuddin and Raziah, 2007; Hassan and El-
Kassas, 2012).
Algae as bioremediators : A large number of algal
species have been reported to act as efficient
biosorbents. Scenedesmus sp. has reduced chromium,
lead, mercury, NO3 and PO4 from the tannery waste
water with the values 73.8-98, 65-98, 81.2-96%, 75-
98, 44.3 and 95%, respectively, as per reports (Chen
et al., 2012; Kshirsagar, 2013; Ajayan et al., 2015).
Scendesmus sp. has been reported to show 98.63%
efficiency in removal of chromium (Losada et al.,
2018). Microspora sp. has shown the capacity for
removal of lead by 97% in batch process and 95% in
semi-batch process (Axtell et al., 2003). Spirogyra sp.
232 Mangotra, Singh and Murali
decontaminated more than 96% of chromium as per
reports (Gupta et al., 2001). Padina sp. has shown the
capacity for cadmium removal up to 90% in 35 min
(Sheng et al., 2004). Chlorella vulgaris and Scendesm
usquadricauda acted as good sorbent for BOD and
COD (Chen et al., 2012). Bifurcaria bifurcaria,
Ascophyllum nodosum, Laminaria ochroleuca,
Synechocystis sp. and Durvillaea potatorum have
shown 90% of Cd removal (Matheickal et al., 1999;
Lodeiro et al., 2005). Chlorella vulgaris has been
reported to show good efficiency in reduction of zinc,
copper, nickel, cobalt, iron and chromium (El-Sheekh
et al., 2016). It has been seen that the consortium of
Chlorella sp. and Phordium sp. reduced BOD and
COD more than 90% (Das et al., 2018).
Higher aquatic plants as bioremediators : Aquatic
plants like Eicchornia crassipes, Azolla pinnata,
Lemna minor and Gladious occupy good position in
the list of aquatic plants as biosorbents. Lemna minor
has also been seen to remove 76% of lead (Axtell et
al., 2003). It has been reported that about 99.5% of
chromium has been reduced by Eicchornia crassipes
(Mishra and Tripathi, 2009). Near about 74% of
cadmium and 95% of lead have been reported to be
removed by Pistias stratiotes (Maine et al., 2001;
Veselý et al., 2011).
Agriculture by-products as bioremediators : There
are various plant driven materials that act as
biosorbents. Coconut husk, rice husk, waste tea leaves,
grape stalk waste, wheat shells, tabacco dust, etc. acted
as good bioremediators (Ahluwalia and Goyal, 2007;
Bilal et al., 2013). It has been reported that orange
peel reduced chromium up to 94% (Losada et al.,
2018). In this method, the sorption reaction takes place
between metal ions and on the surface of coal (Babel
and Kurniawan, 2003).
Other polymers : Extracellular polymeric substances
acted as novel biosorbents to remove dyes from the
contaminated water (Zhang et al., 2009). Saccharum
bengalese contained the cellulose as carbohydrate
polymer to remove nickel from aqueous solution as
reported by Din and Mirza (2013).
Hybrid materials : It was reported that hybrid of
fungal biomass of Phanerochaete chrysosporium and
fibrous network of papaya wood acted as good sorbent
for cadmium removal (Iqbal et al., 2007). Cellulose-
nanoscale-manganese oxide composite (C-NMOC)
acted as good biosorbent for the removal of lead
(Maliyekkal et al., 2010).
State of the Art Solutions for Waste Water
Treatment
The re-emergence of eco-friendly solutions through
insights from fusion technologies for accelerated
efficiency may be thought about.
Recommendations
Key research partnerships and collaborations between
universities, industries and the governmental agencies
should be functionalized for better coordinated efforts
to solve real world challenges of our times. Short
courses could be designed with student exchange
programmes to understand the needs of the industries.
In the wake of implementation of eco-friendly
technologies for safe release of effluents into the
environment, government sponsored student
internships could be thought about to have a perpetual
association between the partnering agencies.
CONCLUSION
Industrial waste water effluents have long lasting
impact on the environment and its processes. Hence,
there is a dire need to remove these pollutants before
discharging waste water into the environment.
Conventional methods come with certain drawbacks.
Given the advanced versatile applications of biological
methods, further research may be carried out to
minimize the flaws in these systems. Certain
suggestions given in this paper like consortium
development and novel technologies would help to
solve persistent problems in bio-based technologies.
Research bodies, policy makers, governments and
local people should place their priorities in the interest
of environment and act in tandem for sustainable
irrigation systems.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors acknowledge the encouragement and
support given by Lovely Professional University to
undertake this task in the interest of ecosystems.
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