Water Lettuce for the Improvement of River Water Quality in Pune Metropolitan Area

The concentration of population in the metropolitan areas is a trend globally. The growth and development of human settlements are always aligned to natural resources. Indian metropolitan areas are also following similar trends. Rapid urbanization had caused losses to natural resources. It is important to develop ways to reduce the losses caused to natural resources. River is one of the prime natural resources. Effective wastewater management can play a vital role in the process of improving the rivers. Indian metropolitan areas are exposed to certain issues with the river water quality improvement. Inadequate wastewater management capacity, inefficiently installed capacity, lack of recovery cost, etc., are some of the crucial issues. In this paper, the Pawana River of Pune Metropolitan Region is considered for the study. Water lettuce, which is grown in the River Pawana is potentially used to improve river water quality. Context-specific parameters were considered for the purpose of the study. A prototype of the proposed system was modeled. Results based on the laboratory experiment were derived. Experimental results associated with the study were documented and ways to mainstream use of water lettuce in the wastewater management of Pune Metropolitan Area were proposed.