The soil surrounding an old disposal facility has been found to be contaminated with the pesticide dieldrin. Dieldrin is an organochlorine pesticide first used as an insecticide on corn and cotton fields. It was later used as an insecticide to control agricultural pests such as termites. Dieldrin is an organic pollutant that is difficult to break down due to the abundance of chlorides attached to the molecule. This compound is insoluble in water but dissolves in organic solvents, fat, and oils. Because of this, dieldrin is very toxic to wildlife such as mammals, insects, and aquatic life. It bioaccumulates in organisms far from the initial point of release, shown in figure one. This is also a problem to humans as it poses a potential health …show more content…
Phytoremediation is the use of plants to remove, contain or render harmless, contaminants from soil or water, is a proven technique for remediating heavy metals and soils contaminated with chlorinated solvents. Phytoremediation is environmentally friendly and is a cheaper method and requires low maintenance. Phytoextraction is a subcategory of phytoremediation, in which plants take contaminants into their roots from the soil, and then translocate them into above ground plant tissues for storage. Plants are then harvested, composted to reduce biomass and concentrate the contaminants, and finally incinerated or placed in a secure hazardous waste site. Dieldrin is a organochlorine pesticide so that was taken into consideration when finding the right plant to use. The plant used for the phytoexaction were from the weed species and are known to extract chlordate, DDT, dieldin, endrin, and PCB’s from the soil. These weeds are planted in the soil affected with dieldrin. These weeds job is to store the contaminant dieldrin in their roots, shoots and leaves. The weeds are then harvested and disposed of in the appropriate manner. This technique results to up to a 95% reduction in waste volume over the equivalent concentration of the soil contaminated with