July 2021 Webinar - Floating Wetlands in Pakistan

July 15, 2021 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM (EDT)

Description

Monthly webinars are offered as a benefit of membership. Once each quarter, in March, July, September and December, the monthly SWS webinar is open for non-members to attend (and at no cost), as well.

Click here to watch the recording.

Floating treatment wetlands are highly suitable alternatives for effective wastewater reclamation. The ecotechnologies employ natural processes, involving vegetation and its associated microbial assemblages to improve water quality. It is a solar energy-driven, low-cost, self-sustaining, and self-operating approach for the remediation of wastewater. 

Floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) were developed using locally available plants, and floating mats. Specific wetland plants were tested for the efficient remediation of wastewater. Specific bacterial strains were screened, characterized, and enriched having plant-growth-promoting and pollutants degrading potential. The efficiency of the FTWs was enhanced by their augmentation with specific pollutant-degrading and plant growth-promoting bacteria. The aluminum foil, soil, sand, and gravel were used to protect the mat from sunlight radiation. The applied wetlands are working in the field and industry after several years of their application with minimum operational and maintenance costs. NIBGE has already applied these at the full-scale in the wastewater stabilization ponds of Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) Faisalabad, in the wastewater pits of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), Toyota Car Wash Centers, and at the pilot-scale at various locations including the textile industry and Beverage. More recently, these have been applied near Manak Village Lahore, and a residential colony for the remediation of their sewage wastewater. The application of this innovative indigenous technology in Pakistan improving wastewater treatment, reduction in pollution level, and improving the health of the people living around the wastewater stabilization ponds, pits, and drains.

Presenter: Muhammad Afzal
Muhammad Afzal (Ph.D.), Principal Scientist, Leading Wastewater Treatment and Phytoremediation Group, and In-charge of Environmental Monitoring Laboratory with over 22 years of experience in devising low cost, self-sustaining and environment-friendly technologies for the remediation of polluted soil and wastewater. After extensive R&D, an innovative indigenous technology “Floating Treatment Wetlands” was developed and successfully applied in the industry to treat wastewater. FTWs are nature-based solutions aimed to provide low-cost wastewater treatment options for communities. The technology has been applied in the wastewater stabilization ponds of Faisalabad, in the pits of OGDCL, Toyota Car Wash Stations Faisalabad, and at other industries such as Interloop Limited, and Haidari Beverages. Several national and international research grants were won to develop the technology for wastewater treatment. Several awards such as the Gold Medal by Pakistan Academy of Sciences, NIBGE Best Scientist of year Gold Medal, HEC Best Publication Award, and Research Productivity Awards by PCST, were awarded. Seventy-seven research articles are published in peer-reviewed journals with a total impact factor of 285, and a citation of 4100. Among them, two publications are in Nature Journals as a first and corresponding author, i.e., Nature Sustainability and NPJ Clean Water.