Improving the quality of water and sediment via phytoremediation (by plant) method

Various industrial processes add critical pollutants in water systems thereby leading to problems for life across natural systems. Among all types of pollutants, heavy metals discharged from industrial waste water, have huge deleterious effects on the ecology. That's why metals, especially heavy metals, should be removed from water and sediment systems via appropriate techniques. Other treatment techniques, besides natural purification techniques (sediment scraping, getting water from natural system to treatment plants e.g.), have not been preferred for purification of contaminated water systems because of their high expenditures, deleteriously effects on nature, biodiversity and bioactivity. In the recent years, natural purification techniques especially phytoremediation technique have been researched for purifying of natural water systems due to their low cost, less effects on ecosystem rather than engineering techniques. Phytoremediation is a kind of purification technique to apply to contaminated natural water systems, for getting high ecological quality of water and sediment systems; other than the engineering techniques, owning to their high effective purification capacity for few concentrations of metals. The aim of this research is up-taking of heavy metals from natural water systems, and contributing to assimilation capacity of nature. According to this aim, Sazlıdere Creek feeding Küçükçekmece Lagoon is chosen as the research area. Küçükçekmece Lagoon and its watershed have threatened with organic and ınorganic pollutions of industrial and domestic wastewater. These pollutants have adsorbed onto sediment and causes deleterious effects to water diversities and ecosystem in the region. During the research, two types of plants, named as Cryptocoryne undulata and Echinodorus amazonicus, were planted into the creek. The plants carried to the research were chosen not to give any harmful effects to the ecological system. Various Water, Sediment and Plant samples were taken from the creek on a weekly basis. The research dweller upon to follow the mobility of heavy metals and some elements; Ca, Mg, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, between water, sediment and plant, and also to determine purification effect of phytoremediation for water and sediment in the creek.