Water pollution has been a growing issue for the last decades. This is mainly because of the boost in human population, and the motivations that lead to technological advances for the welfare of the society. Water pollution originates from different sources such as agricultural, municipal, industrial, and landfills drainage waters. These pollutants, which are either organic, nutrient, or heavy metals pollutants, are very deleterious to the natural ecosystems and eventually harmful to humans. Different procedures have been proposed for handling heavy metals water pollution, which encompass electro-osmosis, ion exchange, electrokinetic, sludge activation, as well as phytoextraction. Water contaminants are also removed using flotation, membrane filtration, aeration, precipitation, coagulation-flocculation, ion exchange, and electrochemical treatment. These procedures are costly and have prompted the use of other techniques, such as phytoremediation. Phytoremediation involves the utilization of plant species to alleviate the impacts of environmental pollution. It could be implemented to eliminate pollutants from various natural ecosystems including water, soil, and air or to develop new vegetation growth on disturbed or barren ground. Different plant species have been used for phytoremediation. This chapter addresses trace elements pollution of natural water resources in details and the abilities of Aquatic plant communities such as Reed plants (Phragmites australis) to absorb soluble trace elements from water.
The main objectives of this study were to determine the floristic composition of the vegetation cover and to find the effects of wastewater pollution on the plant community structure in eastern Saudi Arabia. 28 stands which were distributed among polluted and unpolluted sites, were chosen for this study. A total of 42 plant species were recorded (14 in the polluted and 28 in the unpolluted sites). The recorded plants comprised of 13 perennial plant species and 29 annual plant species. Seven vegetation communities were determined using TWINSPAN and DCA classification and ordination techniques. Three in the polluted sites, two in the unpolluted sites and the remaining two were mixed communities. The
(Sarcopoterium spinosum – Pistacia len‐tiscus
) community in the polluted sites, had the highest values of soil moisture, salinity, sulphate, calcium and potassium. On the other hand,
Juniperus phoenicea – Olea europaea
community in the unpolluted site, had the lowest value of organic matter, salinity and magnesium. In respect of genetic diversity, the community of
Foeniculum vulgare - Nicotiana glauca
in the unpolluted site, was the most diverse, while
Ricinus communis - Chrysanthemum coronarium
in the polluted sites was the least one. Both soil and wastewater heavy metal analysis indicated that Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu and Ni concentrations in the polluted sites were significantly higher than those in the unpolluted ones. The impact of wastewater discharge led to the appearance of new invasive plant species that may significantly affect plant diversity and community structure in eastern Saudi Arabia. Finally wastewater discharge in open rangelands could adversely affect the growth of plant species in the rangelands and thus adversely affect plant community structure and diversity.
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