Changes in Physico-Chemical Characters of the Bedding Material Soil During Vermifiltration of Paper Mill Effluent

Abstract

The paper mill wastewater is having various types of pollutants which can create pollution if not treated properly. In this study it subjected to vermifiltration, a novel technique of waste water treatment. Here during vermifiltration, the changes if at all, in the physicochemical characteristics of soil has been studied. Further alteration of such parameters in the bedding material in the presence of earthworms has also been studied. To evaluate the effect of wastewater soil parameters i.e., pH, Electrical Conductivity, Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P), Potassium (K), Organic Carbon (OC), CO2 evolution from the soil have been studied. Three soil beds have been prepared and used for the vermifiltration of paper mill waste water. One soil bed was taken as a control filtration bed (CFB), the second one was the effluent filtration bed in the absence of earthworm (EFB) while the third bed was treated with paper mill effluent in the presence of earthworms (EVB). All the soil parameters in the EFB were higher than CFB and EVB. After the application of earthworm 2% to 10% decrease in the parameters was found.