SDG 6 in Practice: Demonstrating a Scalable Nature-Based Wastewater Treatment System for Pakistan’s Textile Industry

Kamran Siddique, Aansa Rukya Saleem, Muhammad Arslan () and Muhammad Afzal ()
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Kamran Siddique: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Bahria University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Aansa Rukya Saleem: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Bahria University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Muhammad Arslan: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1H9, Canada
Muhammad Afzal: Soil and Environmental Biotechnology Division, National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering College, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (NIBGE-CPIEAS), Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 13, 1-21

Abstract: Industrial wastewater management remains a critical barrier to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) in many developing countries, where regulatory frameworks exist but affordable and scalable treatment solutions are lacking. In Pakistan, the textile sector is a leading polluter, with untreated effluents routinely discharged into rivers and agricultural lands despite stringent National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS). This study presents a pilot-scale case from Faisalabad’s Khurrianwala industrial zone, where a decentralized, nature-based bioreactor was piloted to bridge the gap between policy and practice. The system integrates four treatment stages—anaerobic digestion (AD), floating treatment wetland (FTW), constructed wetland (CW), and sand filtration (SF)—and was further intensified via nutrient amendment, aeration, and bioaugmentation with three locally isolated bacterial strains ( Acinetobacter junii NT-15, Pseudomonas indoloxydans NT-38, and Rhodococcus sp. NT-39). The fully intensified configuration achieved substantial reductions in total dissolved solids (TDS) (46%), total suspended solids (TSS) (51%), chemical oxygen demand (COD) (91%), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) (94%), nutrients, nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) (86%), sulfate (26%), and chloride (41%). It also removed 95% iron (Fe), 87% cadmium (Cd), 57% lead (Pb), and 50% copper (Cu) from the effluent. The bacterial inoculants persist in the system and colonize the plant roots, contributing to stable bioremediation. The treated effluent met the national environmental quality standards (NEQS) discharge limits, confirming the system’s regulatory and ecological viability. This case study demonstrates how nature-based systems, when scientifically intensified, can deliver high-performance wastewater treatment in industrial zones with limited infrastructure—offering a replicable model for sustainable, SDG-aligned pollution control in the Global South.

Keywords: textile wastewater; wetlands; anaerobic digestion; integrated wastewater treatment system; intensification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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