Syllabus: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Context
- Increasing human-generated waste is degrading access to clean air, water, and soil.
- India requires dual strategies: waste reduction and restoration of polluted environments.
What is Bioremediation?
- Bioremediation refers to restoring ecosystems using biological agents such as bacteria, fungi, algae, and plants.
- These organisms metabolise pollutants like oils, plastics, pesticides, and heavy metals into harmless products.
- Certain microbes convert toxic metals into less mobile or safer forms, preventing leaching.
Types of Bioremediation
- In situ bioremediation
- Treatment occurs directly at contamination sites.
- Example: spraying oil-degrading bacteria on marine spills.
- Ex situ bioremediation
- Polluted soil or water is removed, treated in controlled systems, and returned after purification.
Modern Biotechnological Approaches
- Integrates classical microbiology with advanced biotechnology tools.
- Novel techniques help identify biomolecules with valuable traits and enable their controlled replication.
- GM microbes are engineered to degrade persistent pollutants like plastics and oil residues.
Why India Needs Bioremediation
- Rapid industrialisation has caused severe contamination in rivers and soils despite improved regulation.
- Sites receive untreated sewage, industrial effluents, oils, pesticides, and heavy metals.
- Conventional clean-up systems are costly, energy-intensive, and may create secondary pollution.
- Bioremediation is affordable, scalable, and sustainable, aligning with India’s resource constraints.
- India’s rich microbial diversity provides locally adapted organisms suited to extreme conditions.
Current Status in India
- Adoption is growing but remains primarily experimental.
- DBT’s Clean Technology Programme funds collaborations across academia and industry.
- CSIR-NEERI develops and deploys bioremediation projects nationwide.
- IIT research includes cotton-based nanocomposites for oil absorption and studies on pollutant-eating bacteria.
- Startups such as BCIL and Econirmal Biotech supply microbial formulations for soil and wastewater recovery.
Challenges
- Limited site-specific ecological understanding and complex pollutant mixtures hinder outcomes.
- Absence of uniform bioremediation standards restricts large-scale deployment.
Global Practices
- Japan integrates plant–microbe systems into urban waste management.
- EU supports multinational microbial projects for spill control and mining restoration.
- China prioritises bioremediation within its soil pollution policies, using enhanced bacterial strains.
Risks and Safeguards
- Releasing GM organisms requires strict ecological oversight.
- Poor testing or containment may create new environmental hazards.
- Strong biosafety rules, certification systems, and trained personnel are essential.
Way Forward
- Establish national protocols for microbial use and remediation methods.
- Create regional bioremediation hubs connecting local governments, academia, and industry.
- Promote public engagement to build trust that microbes are essential environmental allies.