Cleaning Theveins of Ashtamudi: Method to Filter Heavy Metals & Microplastics

Bharath Babu

Department of Civil Engineering, Bishop Jerome Institute, Kollam

Santiya Ancal

Department of Civil Engineering, Bishop Jerome Institute, Kollam

Pranav P S

Department of Civil Engineering, Bishop Jerome Institute, Kollam

Azmi A

Department of Civil Engineering, Bishop Jerome Institute, Kollam

Sr. Sobhana S

Assistant Professor Civil Engineering, Bishop Jerome Institute, Kollam

Abstract - Ashtamudi Lake is a Ramsar-designated wetland situated in Kollam, Kerala, India. Due to past industrialization and increasing pollution from untreated sewage and solid waste dumping, the accumulation of microplastics and heavy metals poses serious health risks to humans as well as marine biodiversity. Various studies have reported the presence of microplastics as well as heavy metals like iron, lead, manganese, zinc, copper, etc., which mainly originate from plastic waste, fishing activities, and domestic discharge into the lake. As a solution to these problems, this project aims to create a small-scale multilayered filtration system prototype using natural and engineered medias such as water hyacinth, washed silica sand, activated carbon, manganese greensand, geotextile fabric layers, and zeolite to counter and reduce both microplastic and heavy metals concentrations in the contaminated water.

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