Biostrategic Removal of Sulphur Contamination in Groundwater With Sulphur-Reducing Bacteria: A Review

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The rapid growth in the use of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture, excessive extraction of groundwater, and rise in the number of industries with inefficient waste disposal system have been some of the key factors in degradation of groundwater quality during the past years. Although groundwater is considered as a valuable natural resource, the quality control of this resource has systematically failed in India. Irrespective of rural or urban locations, the average sulphate contamination of groundwater in India has reached 90 to 150 mg/L. Such a borderline contamination concentration poses threat both to livelihood and to economy. In addition, the negative health effects of sulphatecontaminated drinking water can range from dermatitis to lung problems and skin cancer. The biostrategic manipulation of groundwater discussed in this article involves sulphate-reducing bacteria used in addition to a 3-step procedure involving constitutive aeration, filtration, and shock chlorination. With earlier use of a similar strategy in the United States and Europe proven to be beneficial, we propose a combinatorial and economical approach for processing of groundwater for removal of sulphur contamination, which still largely remains unnoticed and neglected.

Study of the effect of temperature, pH, and time on the desorption of H2S.

“…Worldwide, a problem affecting groundwater quality is the presence of hydrogen sulphide, whether of natural or anthropogenic origin (Plummer et al, 1990; Mukhopadhyay et al, 2006;Bhuiyan et al, 2010). Hydrogen sulphide water contamination can occur in both urban and rural areas, with rural areas being the most affected by the lack of infrastructure to treat and condition water for use (Satapathy et al, 2017). Dissolved H2S, involving a variety of chemical, biological, and biochemical processes in natural water, is an important indicator of natural water quality, and its concentration level varies over time (Yimei et al, 2023), occurs in different concentrations (0.1 to 244 mg/l) where < 20, 20 to 50, 50 to 150 and > 150 mg/L in groundwater can be considered low, medium-low, medium-high and high, respectively (Mukhopadhyay et al, 2006;O'Sullivan et al, 2005).…”