India’s Largest ‘Floating treatment wetland’ – Hydroponics
India’s Largest ‘Floating treatment wetland’ – Hydroponics
India’s Largest ‘Floating treatment wetland’ – Hydroponics
“India’s largest ‘floating treatment wetland’ will use hydroponics to clean a lake”. With respect to the statement, what is Hydroponics and how will it enable cleaning of a water body?
Structure:
Introduction: (up to 30 words) Give a brief definition of Hydroponics
Body: (up to 100 words) Explain how Hydroponics can be employed in treatment of a water body
Conclusion: (up to 30 words) Conclude by pointing out that this method of treating polluted water is far more inexpensive and environment friendly than sewage treatment plants.
Supporting Points:
Hydroponics is the science of growing plants in a mineral nutrient solution using water as the solvent where no soil is used. Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture, where Terrestrial plants may be grown with only their roots exposed to the mineral solution, or the roots may be supported by an inert medium, such as perlite or gravel. The nutrients in hydroponics can come from an array of different sources; these can include but are not limited to byproduct from fish waste, duck manure, or normal nutrients.
India’s largest ‘floating treatment wetland’ will use hydroponics to clean tribunal body.
An artificial ‘island’ made of meticulously chosen plant species is a floating treatment wetland (FTW) on Neknampur Lake in Hyderabad city.
Several plants on this FTW will help clean the lake by absorbing nutrients such as excess nitrates and oxygen present in the water. They thus reduce the content of these chemicals.
Based on the soil-less hydroponics technique, the FTW comprises four layers. Floatable bamboo forms its base, over which Styrofoam cubicles are placed. The third layer consists of gunny bags. The final layer is of gravel. Hydroponics permits plants to grow only on sunlight and water. There is no need of soil. There are small holes at the bottom which facilitate the flow of nutrients from the water to the plants (biological uptake process).
Cleaning agents planted on the FTW include vetivers, canna, cattalis, bulrush, citronella, hibiscus, fountain grass, flowering herbs, tulsi and ashvagandha.
Micro-organisms growing on the FTW and plant root systems break down and consume the organic matter in the water through microbial decomposition. The root systems filter out sediments and pollutants.
Periodic biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) readings will be taken from the Pollution Control Board.
This method of treating polluted water is far more inexpensive and environment friendly than sewage treatment plants.
Aeroponics is the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil or an aggregate medium. Aeroponic culture differs from both conventional hydroponics, aquaponics, and in-vitro (plant tissue culture) growing. Unlike hydroponics, which uses a liquid nutrient solution as a growing medium and essential minerals to sustain plant growth; or aquaponics which uses water and fish waste, aeroponics is conducted without a growing medium.
