minerals Review Arsenic Remediation through Sustainable Phytoremediation Approaches Sudhakar Srivastava 1, * , Anurakti Shukla 1 , Vishnu D. Rajput 2 , Kundan Kumar 3 , Tatiana Minkina 2 , Saglara Mandzhieva 2, * , Antonina Shmaraeva 2 and Penna Suprasanna 4,†   Citation: Srivastava, S.; Shukla, A.; Rajput, V.D.; Kumar, K.; Minkina, T.; Mandzhieva, S.; Shmaraeva, A.; Suprasanna, P. Arsenic Remediation through Sustainable Phytoremediation Approaches. Minerals 2021, 11, 936. https:// doi.org/10.3390/min11090936 Academic Editor: Kyoung-Woong Kim Received: 22 June 2021 Accepted: 24 August 2021 Published: 28 August 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Plant Stress Biology Laboratory, Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, Uttar Pradesh, India; anurakti02@gmail.com 2 Academy of Biology and Biotechnology, Southern Federal University, 344090 Rostov-on-Don, Russia; rajput.vishnu@gmail.com (V.D.R.); tminkina@mail.ru (T.M.); anshmaraeva@gmail.com (A.S.) 3 Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, K. K. Birla Goa Campus, Zuarinagar 403726, Goa, India; kknipgr@gmail.com 4 Nuclear Agriculture & Biotechnology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400085, Maharashtra, India; penna888@yahoo.com * Correspondence: sudhakar.iesd@bhu.ac.in (S.S.); msaglara@mail.ru (S.M.) † Former Head, NABTD, BARC. Abstract: Arsenic contamination of the environment is a serious problem threatening the health of millions of people exposed to arsenic (As) via drinking water and crops grown in contaminated areas. The remediation of As-contaminated soil and water bodies needs to be sustainable, low-cost and feasible to apply in the most affected low-to-middle income countries, like India and Bangladesh. Phytoremediation is an aesthetically appreciable and successful approach that can be used for As decontamination with use of the best approach(es) and the most promising plant(s). However, phytoremediation lacks the required speed and sometimes the stress caused by As could diminish plants’ potential for remediation. To tackle these demerits, we need augment plants’ potential with appropriate technological methods including microbial and nanoparticles applications and genetic modification of plants to alleviate the As stress and enhance As accumulation in phytoremediator plants. The present review discusses the As phytoremediation prospects of soil and water bodies and the usefulness of various plant systems in terms of high biomass, high As accumulation, bioenergy potential, and economic utility. The potential and prospects of assisted phytoremediation approaches are also presented. Keywords: arsenic; hyperaccumulator; nanoparticles; microorganisms; phytoremediation; Pteris vittata 1. Introduction Arsenic (As) contamination of the soil and water is a serious problem in several parts of the world, especially in South and Southeast Asian countries. It is an issue of concern owing to the toxic impacts of As on plants and humans and due to the span of the affected areas being very large [1]. The contamination of As has been caused mainly by biogeochemical processes in countries in South and Southeast Asia and by industrial and agricultural processes in European and North American countries [2–4]. The severely affected countries of South and Southeast Asia are renowned for intensive rice cultivation along with the dense population [5]. Thus, if even a single well or hand pump is contaminated with As in an area, a large number of people are affected. Further, rice cultivation is performed for two seasons or even three seasons in a year with the use of groundwater plus rainwater for irrigation. Therefore, when the groundwater in the area has As contamination, its use for irrigation adds a huge amount of As to the soil every year [6,7]. Another important point to consider is the fact that rice is the best-known accumulator of As among crop plants [8]. Minerals 2021, 11, 936. https://doi.org/10.3390/min11090936 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/minerals