Wastewater Treatment Techniques for Sustainable Aquaculture

Abstract

To support the rapidly growing human population, food production industries such as aquaculture needs horizontal as well as vertical expansion. The rapid growth of global aquaculture industry cannot be overemphasized because environmental and economic limitations hamper this growth. Intensification of aquaculture activities generates excess amounts of organic pollutants that are likely to cause acute toxic effects and long-run environmental risks. Hence, the aquaculture industry has become an axis for criticism from environmental groups because of an apparent negative effect on the environment by the release of wastewater. The routine method of dealing with this problem is the continuous replacement of the pond water through water exchange using clean water. Thus, aquaculture requires not only the supply of clean water but also the release of pollutant-free water for the protection of aquatic environment and reuse of water sources. The main contaminants of wastewater effluent are suspended solids, nitrogenous wastes and phosphates. Therefore, it is obvious that appropriate wastewater treatment processes are needed for sustainable aquaculture development. A number of physical, chemical and biological methods used in conventional wastewater treatment have been applied in aquaculture systems. This review gives an overview about possibilities of treating the wastewater in aquaculture to avoid the pollution and enabling water for reuse.