Water is the most crucial natural resource required for the survival of
humankind, but chemical industries, household activities, foul practices, etc., are
responsible for polluting it. This leads us to work on the purification and
bioremediation of water contaminants. Diverse techniques have been developed
globally for decontamination/purification of water, but owing to their high cost,
tediousness and time consumption, it has become necessary to work on those methods
that are comparatively cheaper, techno-feasible and employ a green process. In the
contemporary world, the use of nanotechnology in the bioremediation of water
pollutants revolutionarily provides a way to incorporate functional chemicals in notably
reduced quantities to fulfil the desired purpose. Globally, water pollution is primarily
caused by the rainwater containing the pollutants present in the air. Industrial and
domestic wastewater, which is a major source of toxic heavy metals, industrial dyes,
pesticides and insecticides, is used in agriculture. These water pollutants adversely
affect the health of human beings as well as the whole ecosystem of the affected
region. The employment of nano-materials (NMs) degrades the pollutants from the
water source to its standard permissible level. The current chapter comprises a detailed
discussion on the immense potential of NMs in the bioremediation of polluted water
using different NMs and also provides a comprehensive comparison with other
conventional bioremediation methods to make water environmentally non-hazardous.
Keywords: Bioremediation, Contaminants, Conventional treatment techniques, Green methods, Heavy Metals, Metal oxides, Nanotechnology, Nanomaterials, Toxic pollutants, Wastewater, Water pollutants, Zero-valent metals.
