Phytoremediation of Eutrophic Water and Resource Reuse: Theoretical and Practical Approaches.

Water eutrophication has become a worldwide environmental problem in recent years, and the development of novel technologies for controlling or remediating eutrophic water has attracted great attention by scientists, governments and enterprises alike. In this paper, recent advances in developing new technologies for controlling or remediating eutrophic waters were reviewed. The major technologies recently developed for controlling or remediating water eutrophication include: (1) external source pollution control, such as establishing sewage water treatment plants and abatement of agricultural non-point pollution; (2) internal-source pollution control, such as sediment removal, and immobilization of P; (3) water replacement and intensifying water flux; (4) bio-manipulation approach using fish or aquatic animals to remove nutrients and control algal bloom; (5) phytoremediation including off-site purification by constructed wetlands to abate both point and non point pollution, and in situ phytoremediation using floating eco-island systems with enhanced purification capacity. As water eutrophiocation actually is the results of high load of nutrients that causes the imbalance of a aquatic ecosystem, phytoremediation technologies are the low-cost, most effective and sustainable measures to control water eutrophiocation. In particular, phytoremediation of water eutrophiocation by reusing the eutrophic water as a valuable resource could enhance the development of agriculturally based bio-environmental protection enterprises. Some key issues for phytoremediation and ecological engineering of eutrophic water include: (1) Identifying and breeding remediation plant genotypes which are high efficient and have potential economic value; (2) Optimizing plant combinations for constructing high efficient remediation systems including optimal plant- plant, plant- microbe and physical-plant-microbe systems; (3) Developing technologies for sustainable management of phytoremediation system and reuse of biological products. Future study should focus on the basic and applied studies of these important aspects, so as to solve water eutrophication problem by enhancing the development of phytoremediation engineering enterprises.