Current Biotechnological Advancements on Sustainable Metal and Nutrient Removal

The prevalence of various pollutants like nitrogenous, sulphurous, phosphorous compounds, heavy metals, and organic compounds has seriously threatened the sustainability of natural ecosystems and is thus interfering with the natural biogeochemical cycling. Chemical pollution of water bodies can cause serious damage to environmental quality because many of these pollutants are extremely toxic and can in the worst case scenario wipe out entire ecosystems. The world still has not come up with the adequate monitoring system despite the fact that the global chemical pollution continues to grow because of the many " new " pollutants which have entered in use recently. Many thousands of new chemicals are introduced annually in USA alone. The long lasting effects of these pollutants are too varied and diverse and are no more a mystery now. Although nature often has great ability to recover from environmental stresses, the growing demands on water resources and land necessitate the professional application of fundamental knowledge of environmental remediation to ensure the maintenance of environmental quality. Heavy metal pollution is one of the most important environmental problems today [1]. Various industries produce and discharge wastes containing different heavy metals into the environment, such as mining and smelting of metalliferous, surface finishing industry, energy and fuel production, fertilizer and pesticide industry and application, atomic energy installation. They are widely used in all fields of life, that is, batteries, dyes, alloys, chemical compounds, and pharmaceutical and cosmetic products thus suggesting that the risk of pollution is very high. Thus, metals as resource are becoming a short in supply and also cause serious environmental pollution, threatening human health and ecosystem and also brings about serious environmental pollution, threatening human health and ecosystem. Three kinds of heavy metals are of concern, including toxic metals The presence of heavy metal in atmosphere, soil, and water, even in traces, represents a severe risk to all organisms for their long-term toxicological effects. Heavy metal bioaccumulation and biomagnifications in the food chain can be extremely dangerous to human health [1]. Wastewater irrigation is not only used due to scarcity of fresh water but it is also used for protection of environment and for its high nutritive values [2]. Water pollution is a great problem throughout the world and ground water pollution occurs due to disposal of industrial effluents and domestic sewage into watercourses [3]. Wastewater not only provides the supplemental irrigation but also provides the useful nutrients, especially …