A variety of strategies are currently being explored to to reduce metal contamination using bioremediation. The strategies listed below offer some of the most promising in situ bioremediation treatments currently available. These strategies provide cheap and efficient alternatives to traditional methods of metal decontamination such as "pump and treat" soil washing systems and excavation and reburial of contaminated areas. However, industries are often reluctant to embrace these new bioremediation technologies because they do not always lower contaminants to the levels of drinking water standards.
Phytoremediation: Plants can be used to bioremediate metals through several processes such as phytoextraction, rhizofiltration, and phytovolatilization.
Injection wells : Adding hydrocarbons, like acetate, as an electron donor can stimulate microbes to reduce metals, forming harmless precipitates. These carbon sources can be added in situ via an apparatus called an injection well.
Constructed wetlands: Constructing artificial wetlands provides the anaerobic conditions necessary for bioremediation. In the absence of oxygen, microbes must reduce metals to gain energy, thereby detoxifying them.