We investigated the ecological characteristics of reed populations growing in Korea and tried to select reed populations showing better growth patterns in waste landfill leachate. To examine the growth characteristics, 14 reed populations from various habitats were collected. Four reed populations were from inland reclaimed habitats, 4 reed populations from brackish or salt marsh habitats, and 6 reed populations from fresh water habitats. Total plant biomass after the treatment with landfill leachate showed that Daebudo and Nanjido reed populations had the higher biomass with 3755 g DW/pot and 3305 g DW/pot, respectively. Reed populations being sampled from the higher salinity and landfill habitats had relatively higher total biomass than that of other reed populations. Especially reed populations from landfill habitats showed higher biomass. Reed populations from Songjiho and Daebudo, which were believed to have tolerance to salt stress, also showed good growth patterns. Population from the fresh water habitats exhibited relatively lower tolerance to leachate treatment compared to others. From the results, we could conclude that reed populations from Nanjido and Daebudo with higher biomass and better salt tolerance were able to good candidates for purification of waste landfill leachate.

The high surface area polymer, AquaMatsⓇ was used for the leachate purification process originated from the Samsan Dong Landfill in Ulsan Metropolitan City. And then, three species of dominant microbes were isolated and identified from AquaMatsⓇ. Gram staining revealed these microbes to be Gram-negative rod strains: They were identified as Agrobacterium radiobacter, Pseudomonas cepacia, Flavobacterium indologenes. All they showed no growth on media in which the leachate was added alone, but a rapid proliferation rate on media with yeast extract as nutrient requirements.