2.1. Earthworm, plant collection and wastewater collection
Individuals of earthworm Perionyx sansibaricus of different age group
were collected from mud of a gray water drain in university campus,
Dehradun, India. The stock of P. sansibaricus was cultured in laboratory
using garden soil spiked with leaf litter and cow dung inappropriate ratios.
Plant Cyprus rotundus used for construction of biofiltration unit
was originally obtained frommoist soils around greywater drains in university
campus. The identification was made using standard taxonomic
key and confirmed by plant taxonomist in university.
The urban wastewater was collected from a wastewater stream
flowing over nearby location of university campus. The wastewater
was collected from main streamline of wastewater drain in largesize
pre-cleaned circular plastic containers of 20 L capacity. Collected
wastewater was brought immediately to laboratory and collected in
large-size wastewater reservoir unit of the vermi-biofiltration system.
Wastewater was collected just before the starting of experimentation
in order to avoid alternation in the wastewater characteristics
mainly due to open storage of sample.
Other accessories like aeration pump, flow control units, water
pumps etc. were procured from a local sanitary engineering shop
and scientific equipment supply firms.