Plants may Triumph Over Toxic Heavy Metal Contamination in Nepal, Study Says

Heavy metal and arsenic contamination of the environment in Nepal makes it difficult and expensive to remove them using standard techniques.

According to research, heavy metals like lead, mercury, and arsenic that are frequently found in the soil and water of the country could be dealt with in Nepal through phytoremediation, or the use of soil microbes and certain plants to remove toxic contaminants from the environment.

The risks and effects are heightened in developing countries due to a lack of resources and treatment technologies, according to a review that was published in July in Chemosphere. The researchers estimate that heavy metal pollution has a global economic impact of more than US $10 billion annually.

Heavy Metal in Soil and Water

According to the study, the rapid increase in agriculture, industrialization, and global population growth have all accelerated the environmental contamination of soil and water with heavy metals.

In today's dynamic environment where heavy metal contamination has grown to be a more significant issue, phytoremediation can be used as a successful and environmentally friendly remediation measure, claims Shukra Raj Paudel, the study's co-corresponding author and an associate professor at Nepal's Tribhuvan University.

According to Paudel, phytoremediation uses plants to extract, contain, immobilize, and degrade pollutants in water, soil, and air while maintaining the biological and physical integrity of the plants. Some of the plants mentioned in the study include morning glory against copper, alfalfa and Indian mustard against lead, needle spikerush and ladder brake against arsenic, and common yarrow against mercury.

The Effects of Heavy Metal Contamination

The most affected groups by heavy metal contamination are infants and children. Lead exposure is linked to issues with behavior, nerve disorders, and poor development in children, while it raises blood pressure in adults.

The nervous system, skin, eyes, kidneys, lungs, digestive system, and immune system are all impacted by mercury. Lung, skin, and bladder cancers have all been linked to long-term arsenic exposure.

According to Paudel, heavy metal concentration and the biological cycle of plants are just two examples of the factors that limit conventional phytoremediation techniques. To enhance the phytoremediation process, changes must be made to the plant species or the surrounding environment.

Plant-Based Solutions

In the US, Russia, Canada, and many European nations, several plant-based remedial techniques have been used to successfully remove heavy metals. The overall cost of remediation, social acceptance, technical requirements, and sustainability, however, are significant obstacles to site decontamination in developing nations like Nepal.

On the other hand, the study suggests that Nepal could rely on its enormous plant diversity to create low-cost or medium-cost remediation and maintenance techniques for contaminated sites.

This would entail choosing "hyperaccumulator" species that are commercially viable and capable of absorbing significant amounts of heavy metal compounds and carefully placing them in decontaminated areas, Eco-Business reports.

The study looked at the levels of heavy metals at various polluted sites in Nepal, examined how plants take in heavy metals and assessed the potential of plant-based remediation methods.

Paudel asserts that although methods used in the past have frequently failed to address heavy metal contamination in Nepal, they are still being used because of a lack of knowledge about recent developments in enhanced phytoremediation.

Paudel continued by saying that a sizable portion of society in developing nations has restricted the use of phytoremediation. In Nepal, enhanced phytoremediation is being used in several regions to remove heavy metals effectively and sustainably.

The use of plant-based technologies for the removal of heavy metal contaminated sites has enormous potential and offers an eco-friendly, practical, and attractive solution for the restoration of damaged ecosystems, according to Radha Rani, assistant professor of biotechnology at India's Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology.