Phytoremediation using water eichhornia crassipes and pistia stratiotes plants to reduce Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and phosphate levels in wastewater

Wastewater produced by health facilities such as Community Health Centers has great potential to pollute the environment, especially due to the high levels of Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and phosphate. Phytoremediation, using plants such as Eichhornia crassipes and pumice, is an efficient, environmentally friendly, and economical waste treatment method. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of Eichhornia crassipes and pumice plants in phytoremediation tests on community health center wastewater with BOD and phosphate parameters. This type of research is a true experimental using a One group pretest and posttest design. The sample in the study was Community Health Center wastewater with a sample size of 10 L. BOD and phosphate levels were measured on days 0, 3, 6, and 9 to determine the effectiveness of phytoremediation in reducing pollutant levels. The data analysis used univariate. The results showed that BOD levels decreased significantly from 21.08 mg/L on day 0 to 10.36 mg/L on day 9 with a decrease rate of 51%. In addition, phosphate levels also decreased from 0.95 mg/L to 0.28 mg/L with a decrease of 71% after 9 days of treatment. Phytoremediation using Eichhornia crassipes and pumice wood is effective in reducing BOD and phosphate levels in Puskesmas wastewater. Suggestions for further researchers are the development of time variations and combination methods, exploration of other plants, the influence of environmental factors, larger scale tests.