10.2190/4087-KBVL-EDL0-M47Y 4087KBVLEDL0M47Y 177 MODELING THE ROLE OF PHYTOREMEDIATION IN MITIGATING GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION IN INDIA 177 189 20060331 20060331 20060331 20060331 4087KBVLEDL0M47Y.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=4087KBVLEDL0M47Y 3 J. S. PANDEY V. JOSEPH R. SHANKER R. KUMAR R. N. SINGH National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (N.E.E.R.I), Nagpur, India Contamination of groundwater due to pesticides has become a major issue of concern in India. However, there are now attempts to contain and control this problem through phytoremediation, which is a very cost-effective and innovative technology. On the other hand, none of the hitherto developed models for groundwater contamination has incorporated an explicit role for phytoremediation. We have accordingly modified an earlier model used for studying groundwater contamination, and conducted sensitivity studies of the resulting model. It turns out that groundwater contamination has strongest dependence on the parameters, that represent the underground gradient of microbial population density. S. Kumar, O. Singh, and M. Gopal, Organochlorine Residues in Rural Drinking Water Sources of Northern and North-Eastern India, Journal of Environmental Science and Health, A30, pp. 1211-1222, 1995. S. P. Mohapatra, S. Kumar, V. J. Gajibhiy, and N. P. Agnihotri, Ground Water Contamination by Organochlorine Insecticide Residues in a Rural Area in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 35, pp. 155-164, 1995. O. P. Bansal, Groundwater Quality of Aligarh District of Uttar Pradesh, Second International Conference on Contaminants in Soil Environment in the Australasia-Pacific Region, New Delhi, India, pp. 453-454, December 12-17, 1999. M. E. Watanabe, Phytoremediation on the Brink of Commercialization, Environmental Science and Technology, 31:4, pp. 182A-186A, 1997. Scientific Software Group, Washington, DC 20026-3041, information available from the Internet at: http://www.scisoftware.com., 1998. H. J. Di and L. A. G. Aylmore, Modeling the Probabilities of Groundwater Contamination by Pesticides, Soil Science Society of America Journal, 61, pp. 17-23, 1997. W. A. Jury, D. D. Focht, and W. J. Farmer, Evaluation of Pesticide Groundwater Pollution Potential from Standard Indices of Soil-Chemical Adsorption and Biodegradation, Journal of Environmental Quality, 16, pp. 422-428, 1987. B. Diekkrüger, P. Nortersheuser, and O. Richter, Modelling Pesticide Dynamics of a Loam Site Using HERBSIM and SIMULAT, Ecological Modelling, 81, pp. 111-119, 1995. V. Joseph, J. S. Pandey, R. Shanker, and T. K. Ghosh, Role of Ecological Modelling and Watershed Management in Mitigating Soil and Groundwater Contamination, Second International Conference on Contaminants in the Soil Environment in the Australasia-Pacific Region, New Delhi, India, pp. 103-104, December 12-17, 1999. W. A. Jury, W. F. Spencer, and W. J. Farmer, Behavior Assessment Model for Trace Organics in Soil. I. Model Description, Journal of Environmental Quality, 12, pp. 558-564, 1983. J. S. Pandey, V. Joseph, S. Khan, R. Shanker, and P. Kumar, Modeling of Groundwater Contamination and Contextual Phytoremediation: Sensitivity Analysis for an Indian Case Study, 2000 Contaminated Site Remediation Conference, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 545-552, December 4-8, 2000. J. S. Pandey, S. C. Deb, and P. Khanna, Issues Related to Greenhouse Effect, Productivity Modeling and Nutrient Cycling: A Case Study of Indian Wetlands, Environmental Management, 21, pp. 219-224, 1997. SSI, Soil Series of India, S. Lal, S. B. Deshpande, and J. Sehgel (eds.), National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS & LUP), Nagpur, India, 1994. P. L. Thompson, L. A. Ramer, and J. L. Schnoor, Hexahydro-1,3,5-Trinitro-1,3,5-Triazine Translocation in Poplar Trees, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 182:2, pp. 279-284, 1999. E. P. Odum, Basic Ecology. CBS College Publishing, Saunders College Publishing, Holt Saunders, Japan, 1983. R. A. Ames and B. L. Hoyle, Biodegradation and Mineralisation of Atrazine in Shallow Subsurface Sediments from Illinois, Journal of Environmental Quality, 28, pp. 1674-1681, 1999. Direct reprint requests to: