Article: Treatment of groundwater using phytoremediation technique at Kolar Gold Fields, India Journal: International Journal of Environmental Engineering (IJEE) 2015 Vol.7 No.1 pp.11 - 34 Abstract: Underground gold mining at Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), Karnataka, was carried out for more than a century at greater depths which disturbed the groundwater aquifers. Leaching from huge amount of mill tailings dumps can contaminate groundwater. As many researchers have used plant species like water hyacinth, water lettuce and vetiver grass for the treatment of water and wastewater, therefore, attempts were made to treat the groundwater of KGF using these species. For this, the plant species were grown in synthetic solution and also by adding nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) in the solution. The growth parameters of species like number of leaves, plant weight, length of principal root and number of roots were studied. Removal efficiency of these species was also computed for different water quality parameters. The study revealed that water hyacinth had higher contaminant reduction capability than water lettuce and vetiver grass. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Treatment of groundwater using phytoremediation technique at Kolar Gold Fields, India

Authors: Piyush Gupta; Surendra Roy; Amit B. Mahindrakar

Addresses: AMEC, Environmental & Infrastructure (UK), KOC-PMC Office, Al-Tameer Annex Building, Ahmadi-61006, Kuwait ' Jan Nayak Ch. Devi Lal Memorial College of Engineering, Barnala Road, Sirsa – 125 055, Haryana, India ' School of Mechanical and Building Sciences, VIT University, Vellore-632 014, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: Underground gold mining at Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), Karnataka, was carried out for more than a century at greater depths which disturbed the groundwater aquifers. Leaching from huge amount of mill tailings dumps can contaminate groundwater. As many researchers have used plant species like water hyacinth, water lettuce and vetiver grass for the treatment of water and wastewater, therefore, attempts were made to treat the groundwater of KGF using these species. For this, the plant species were grown in synthetic solution and also by adding nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) in the solution. The growth parameters of species like number of leaves, plant weight, length of principal root and number of roots were studied. Removal efficiency of these species was also computed for different water quality parameters. The study revealed that water hyacinth had higher contaminant reduction capability than water lettuce and vetiver grass.

Keywords: phytoremediation; gold mining; water hyacinth; water lettuce; vetiver grass; groundwater treatment; total dissolved solids; electrical conductivity; constructed wetland; removal efficiency; water quality; wastewater treatment; India; underground mining; groundwater aquifers; leaching; contaminant reduction; water pollution.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEE.2015.069252

International Journal of Environmental Engineering, 2015 Vol.7 No.1, pp.11 - 34

Received: 30 Jul 2013
Accepted: 16 Mar 2014
Published online: 06 May 2015 *

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Title: Treatment of groundwater using phytoremediation technique at Kolar Gold Fields, India

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