3.2.3 Pathogen Removal and Role of Microbes
and Earthworms in Vermifiltration
In vermifiltration, microorganisms are responsible for biochemical degradation of
organic matter, and earthworms act as controllers (Arora and Kazmi 2015; Liu et al.
2012). The antibacterial action of the isolated microorganisms, viz., Bacillus,
Alcaligenes, E. coli, Enterobacter, and Klebsiella, has been reported to oppose or
avert the improvement of different pathogens found in vermifiltration due to release
of some antibacterial substances. These findings further exhibit the purification
capacity of vermifiltration to expel pathogens from wastewater. Subsequently,
vermifiltration generation can be considered to endure minimum effort, feasible
and plausible choice for wastewater remedy, that bring about a clean pathogenfree effluent (Arora et al. 2014).
Earthworms are also recognized to secrete mucus from their body which assist in
mineralization of toxins found in wastewater (Arora et al. 2014; Ellis and McCalla
1978; Sahariah et al. 2015; Goswami et al. 2014). Mucus additionally maintains up
an ideal condition for bacterial populace and higher growth. Besides, mucus made
from amino acids, glucoproteins, and small glucosidic and proteic molecules allows
in keeping up the satisfactory viable C/N proportion for progressed biochemical
exercises of the vermifiltration system (Bajsa et al. 2004; Wang et al. 2011). These
earthworms can possibly consume harmful and ineffective microbes of the wastewater and aid in pathogen elimination (Sinha et al. 2008). Earthworms have an
intrinsic potential of changing organics and nutrients from insoluble structures to
soluble structures. In this way, it makes the insoluble nutrients bioavailable for
further debasement or union of new cells (Gogoi et al. 2015; Goswami et al. 2016;
Sahariah et al. 2015; Singh and Kaur 2015).
In earlier days, vermifiltration has been utilized to treat household and city
wastewater. Afterward, application of vermifiltration extended to other domains,
e.g., rural wastewater, urban runoff (Tomar and Suthar 2011), sewage sludge (Xing
et al. 2012), and to treat various industry effluents, viz., gelatinous effluents
(Ghatnekar et al. 2010), dairy industry (Bharambe 2006), herbal pharmaceutical
effluents (Dhadse et al. 2010), piggery effluents (Luth et al. 2011), and effluents from
other processing industries (Sinha et al. 2007).
3.2.4 Role of Plants in Vermifiltration
There are several studies available on the use of either vermifiltration or only plants
to extract pollutants from wastewater. However, there are very few reports available
on the use of both systems potential to develop an efficient integrated system (Samal
et al. 2017a, b). Tomar and Suthar (2011) used earthworm Perionyx sansibaricus
and plant species Cyperus rotundus to treat urban runoff. Chen et al. 2016 developed
a vermifilter supported by Canna indica to treat sludge and reported the removal of
3 Treatment of Wastewater by Vermifiltration Integrated with Plants
41
and Earthworms in Vermifiltration
In vermifiltration, microorganisms are responsible for biochemical degradation of
organic matter, and earthworms act as controllers (Arora and Kazmi 2015; Liu et al.
2012). The antibacterial action of the isolated microorganisms, viz., Bacillus,
Alcaligenes, E. coli, Enterobacter, and Klebsiella, has been reported to oppose or
avert the improvement of different pathogens found in vermifiltration due to release
of some antibacterial substances. These findings further exhibit the purification
capacity of vermifiltration to expel pathogens from wastewater. Subsequently,
vermifiltration generation can be considered to endure minimum effort, feasible
and plausible choice for wastewater remedy, that bring about a clean pathogenfree effluent (Arora et al. 2014).
Earthworms are also recognized to secrete mucus from their body which assist in
mineralization of toxins found in wastewater (Arora et al. 2014; Ellis and McCalla
1978; Sahariah et al. 2015; Goswami et al. 2014). Mucus additionally maintains up
an ideal condition for bacterial populace and higher growth. Besides, mucus made
from amino acids, glucoproteins, and small glucosidic and proteic molecules allows
in keeping up the satisfactory viable C/N proportion for progressed biochemical
exercises of the vermifiltration system (Bajsa et al. 2004; Wang et al. 2011). These
earthworms can possibly consume harmful and ineffective microbes of the wastewater and aid in pathogen elimination (Sinha et al. 2008). Earthworms have an
intrinsic potential of changing organics and nutrients from insoluble structures to
soluble structures. In this way, it makes the insoluble nutrients bioavailable for
further debasement or union of new cells (Gogoi et al. 2015; Goswami et al. 2016;
Sahariah et al. 2015; Singh and Kaur 2015).
In earlier days, vermifiltration has been utilized to treat household and city
wastewater. Afterward, application of vermifiltration extended to other domains,
e.g., rural wastewater, urban runoff (Tomar and Suthar 2011), sewage sludge (Xing
et al. 2012), and to treat various industry effluents, viz., gelatinous effluents
(Ghatnekar et al. 2010), dairy industry (Bharambe 2006), herbal pharmaceutical
effluents (Dhadse et al. 2010), piggery effluents (Luth et al. 2011), and effluents from
other processing industries (Sinha et al. 2007).
3.2.4 Role of Plants in Vermifiltration
There are several studies available on the use of either vermifiltration or only plants
to extract pollutants from wastewater. However, there are very few reports available
on the use of both systems potential to develop an efficient integrated system (Samal
et al. 2017a, b). Tomar and Suthar (2011) used earthworm Perionyx sansibaricus
and plant species Cyperus rotundus to treat urban runoff. Chen et al. 2016 developed
a vermifilter supported by Canna indica to treat sludge and reported the removal of
3 Treatment of Wastewater by Vermifiltration Integrated with Plants
41