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The role of trees in the bioremediation of drinking water - a research experiment in Nawakkaduwa, Kalpitiya
conference contribution
posted on 2018-02-12, 15:08 authored by Kamal Melvani, Kanchana Chandrasekera, Rahul MudannayakeThe Kalpitiya Peninsula is a low-lying sand peninsula located on the North West coast of Sri Lanka. Of special significance
is the underlying Gyben-Herzberg lens of fresh water that is extensively pumped for irrigation and potable water supply.
Ground water quality throughout the peninsula had been good until massive amounts of inorganic fertilizer and chemical
pesticides began to be used in agriculture which increased ground water concentrations of nitrate, nitrite, chloride and
potassium beyond WHO drinking water standards. There is seen a correlation between ground water quality and land
use. The National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) were thus compelled to abandon many wells constructed
in the Kalpitiya peninsula since the water was contaminated with nitrates and nitrites. In 2004, they contracted with the
Neo Synthesis Research Centre (NSRC) to conduct research on the bioremediation of the contaminants. Thus far the results
are very encouraging.
History
School
- Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Research Unit
- Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC)
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WEDC ConferenceCitation
MELVANI, K. ... et al, 2006. The role of trees in the bioremediation of drinking water - a research experiment in Nawakkaduwa, Kalpitiya. IN: Fisher, J. (ed). Sustainable development of water resources, water supply and environmental sanitation: Proceedings of the 32nd WEDC International Conference, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 13-17 November 2006, pp. 304-312.Publisher
© WEDC, Loughborough UniversityVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Publication date
2006Notes
This is a conference paper.Other identifier
WEDC_ID:11146Language
- en
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