Chapter 3
Treatment of Wastewater by
Vermifiltration Integrated with Plants
Anu Bala Chowdhary, Jahangeer Quadar, Bhaskar Singh,
and Jaswinder Singh
Abstract In the present scenario, due to industrialization and urbanization, wastewater management is a major issue. In order to overcome the issue of wastewater
treatment, vermifiltration is one of the best remedies available. Vermifiltration is the
procedure of wastewater remediation that includes the joint action of earthworms
and microbes. Vermifiltration coupled with phytoremediation could prove to be an
efficient and easy-to-adapt technology that could be adopted at a community level.
The treated wastewater obtained after vermifiltration is reported to have its utility in
gardening, irrigation, and other reuse applications. To make the process more
efficient, there is a future scope of study on earthworm-microorganism-plant interaction in the vermifiltration process integrated with plants. Treatment by
vermifiltration could also be adopted at a micro level by the local communities.
The process could provide an efficient mode of treatment wherever there is a lack of
proper and adequate conventional treatment facilities. Future perspectives of this
technology will thus depend on a large extent on the cost-benefit analysis of the
process. The process could be made more cost efficient by incorporating the plants in
combination with vermifiltration.
Keywords Wastewater · Vermifiltration · Earthworm · Microorganisms · Plants
A. B. Chowdhary · J. Quadar
Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar,
Punjab, India
B. Singh
Department of Environmental Sciences, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand,
India
J. Singh (*)
Department of Zoology, Khalsa College Amritsar, Amritsar, Punjab, India
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to
Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
S. A. Bhat et al. (eds.), Earthworm Assisted Remediation of Effluents and Wastes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4522-1_3
35
Treatment of Wastewater by
Vermifiltration Integrated with Plants
Anu Bala Chowdhary, Jahangeer Quadar, Bhaskar Singh,
and Jaswinder Singh
Abstract In the present scenario, due to industrialization and urbanization, wastewater management is a major issue. In order to overcome the issue of wastewater
treatment, vermifiltration is one of the best remedies available. Vermifiltration is the
procedure of wastewater remediation that includes the joint action of earthworms
and microbes. Vermifiltration coupled with phytoremediation could prove to be an
efficient and easy-to-adapt technology that could be adopted at a community level.
The treated wastewater obtained after vermifiltration is reported to have its utility in
gardening, irrigation, and other reuse applications. To make the process more
efficient, there is a future scope of study on earthworm-microorganism-plant interaction in the vermifiltration process integrated with plants. Treatment by
vermifiltration could also be adopted at a micro level by the local communities.
The process could provide an efficient mode of treatment wherever there is a lack of
proper and adequate conventional treatment facilities. Future perspectives of this
technology will thus depend on a large extent on the cost-benefit analysis of the
process. The process could be made more cost efficient by incorporating the plants in
combination with vermifiltration.
Keywords Wastewater · Vermifiltration · Earthworm · Microorganisms · Plants
A. B. Chowdhary · J. Quadar
Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar,
Punjab, India
B. Singh
Department of Environmental Sciences, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand,
India
J. Singh (*)
Department of Zoology, Khalsa College Amritsar, Amritsar, Punjab, India
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to
Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
S. A. Bhat et al. (eds.), Earthworm Assisted Remediation of Effluents and Wastes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4522-1_3
35