Remediation of Urban River Water by Pontederia Cordata Combined with Artificial Aeration: Organic Matter and Nutrients Removal and Root-Adhered Bacterial Communities

Macrophyte combined with artificial aeration is a promising in situ remediation approach for urban rivers polluted with nutrients and organic matter. However, seasonal variations and aeration effects on phytoremediation performance and root-adhered microbial communities are still unclear. In this study, Pontederia cordata was used to treat polluted urban river water under various aeration intensities. Results showed that the highest removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand (COD_Cr) and total nitrogen (TN) were attained under aeration of 30 L min⁻¹ in spring and summer and 15 L min⁻¹ in autumn, while total phosphorus (TP) removal reached maximum with aeration of 15 L min⁻¹ in all seasons. Moderate aeration was beneficial for increasing the diversity of root-adhered bacteria communities, and the shift of bacterial community structure was more pronounced in spring and autumn with varying aeration intensity. The dual effect, i.e. turbulence and dissolved oxygen (DO), of aeration on the removal of COD_Cr and TN prevailed over the individual effect of DO, while DO was the most influential factor for TP removal and the root-adhered bacterial community diversity. P. cordata combined with 15 L min⁻¹ aeration was deemed to be the best condition tested in this study.