High Strength Wastewater Reclamation Capacity of Vetiver Grass in Tropics: The Case of Ethiopia

It is generally accepted that industrial wastewater like tannery effluent is high strength wastewater. The aim of this study was to examine the capacity of Vetiver grass for the treatment of high strength wastewater in a constructed wetland. Two constructed wetland beds were designed and one of them was not planted used as a control group. The grass was planted with 20 cm by 20 cm distance from each seedling. The biometric characteristics of Vetiver grass was evaluated by taking randomly selected clusters of the grass. The concentration of chromium in the extract of parts of the grass was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The Chromium bioaccumulation and Translocation factor was estimated. Composite samples before and after treatment of 4 different hydraulic retention time was collected. The physiochemical analysis of the wastewater has been carried out. The constructed wetland bed with Vetiver grass performed that, BOD, COD, NH(4)-N, NO(3)-N, TN, PO(4)-P, and TP were reduced at the retention time of 9 days by 91.9%, 96.3%, 62%, 86%, 88.7%, 96.3%, and 92.2% respectively. Chromium was also reduced by 97% at retention time of both 7 and 9 days over the planted bed. The bed with plant performs significantly better than without plant at P-value <.01. Therefore, Vetiver grass has a capacity to reclaim high strength industrial wastewater in tropical areas.