Assessing the effectiveness of a three-stage on-farm biobed in treating pesticide contaminated wastewater

Cooper, Richard J.; Fitt, Peter; Hiscock, Kevin M.; Lovett, Andrew A.; Gumm, L. P.; Dugdale, Stephen J.; Rambohul, Justin; Williamson, Antony; Noble, Lister; Beamish, James; Hovesen, Poul

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.06.047

Cited by 34 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The presence of annamox may be due to high concentrations of organic carbon in the STU resulting in concurrent denitrification with heterotrophic Denitrifiers (Chamchoi et al, 2008). These results match previous studies which suggested that anammox was active within low flow sites and at 5-7.5 cm depths within the infiltrative surface (Cooper et al, 2016;Humphrey Jr et al, 2019). Increases in functional richness may help locate metabolic activities such as the presence of denitrifiers at the proximal position to the inlet at the SE-STU (Louca et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Spatial Variation of the Microbial Community Structure of On-Site Soil Treatment Units in a Temperate Climate, and the Role of Pre-treatment of Domestic Effluent in the Development of the Biomat Community

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The growth of microbial mats or “biomats” has been identified as an essential component in the attenuation of pollutants within the soil treatment unit (STU) of conventional on-site wastewater treatment systems (OWTSs). This study aimed to characterize the microbial community which colonizes these niches and to determine the influence of the pre-treatment of raw-domestic wastewater on these communities. This was achieved through a detailed sampling campaign of two OWTSs. At each site, the STU areas were split whereby half received effluent directly from septic tanks, and half received more highly treated effluents from packaged aerobic treatment systems [a coconut husk media filter on one site, and a rotating biodisc contactor (RBC) on the other site]. Effluents from the RBC had a higher level of pre-treatment [~90% Total Organic Carbon (TOC) removal], compared to the media filter (~60% TOC removal). A total of 92 samples were obtained from both STU locations and characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. The fully treated effluent from the RBC resulted in greater microbial community richness and diversity within the STUs compared to the STUs receiving partially treated effluents. The microbial community structure found within the STU receiving fully treated effluents was significantly different from its septic tank, primary effluent counterpart. Moreover, the distance along each STU appears to have a greater impact on the community structure than the depth in each STU. Our findings highlight the spatial variability of diversity, Phylum- and Genus-level taxa, and functional groups within the STUs, which supports the assumption that specialized biomes develop around the application of effluents under different degrees of treatment and distance from the source. This research indicates that the application of pre-treated effluents infers significant changes in the microbial community structure, which in turn has important implications for the functionality of the STU, and consequently the potential risks to public health and the environment.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Spatial Variation of the Microbial Community Structure of On-Site Soil Treatment Units in a Temperate Climate, and the Role of Pre-treatment of Domestic Effluent in the Development of the Biomat Community

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In fact, most of the operators that were interviewed used aged atomizers, which do not require the technical features requested by Directive 2009/127/EC for new machinery. Also, different procedures to avoid point source contamination have been suggested depending on both the specific context, and the size and shape of the equipment used [62,[83][84][85][86][87][88]. Moreover, to the authors' knowledge a few companies have at their disposal a specific area for the cleaning of the application equipment, while in the considered sample none of the interviewed companies has this type of facility.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying Hierarchical Task Analysis to Depict Human Safety Errors during Pesticide Use in Vineyard Cultivation

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The use of pesticides in agriculture is a significant problem at a global level, not only from an environmental perspective but also from the farmers’ health and safety point of view. In the literature, several studies have discussed the safe behavior and risk perception of farmers. However, human errors when dealing with pesticides and the related work equipment are rarely considered. To reduce this research gap, a study of the human safety errors in pesticide use based on hierarchical task analysis is proposed. In particular, such a bottom-up approach was applied to vineyard cultivation and considered all the activities that operators carry out when using pesticides. The results of this study showed that most of the identified human errors were action errors, i.e., potential failures of the operator in completing the activity successfully. In addition, retrieval and checking errors resulted in being rather common. These outputs shed light on the gap between the information received and the practical need for operators to reduce their failure to perform specific activities. Therefore, while the present study augments current knowledge on the safe use of pesticides, further research is needed to address human errors in agricultural activities, thus extending these results to a larger sample size as well as to other cultivation types.

show abstract

“…This paper focuses on the intensive arable system of the River Wensum DTC, where monitoring of water quality and soil parameters commenced in April 2011 and now provides an invaluable record of baseline conditions before and after the implementation of mitigation measures since autumn 2013 (Cooper et al, 2018;Cooper et al, 2020). The measures implemented within the River Wensum DTC include a biobed to degrade waste pesticides (Cooper et al, 2016), constructed wetlands to capture sediment-rich road runoff (Cooper et al, 2019) and the extensive use of cover crops and conservation tillage practices to reduce nutrient leaching and improve soil health within a seven-year crop rotation (Cooper et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation tillage and soil health: Lessons from a 5-year UK farm trial (2013–2018)

Cooper

Hama-Aziz

Hiscock

et al. 2020

Soil and Tillage Research

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Assessing the effectiveness of a three-stage on-farm biobed in treating pesticide contaminated wastewater

Cited by 34 publications

References 31 publications

Spatial Variation of the Microbial Community Structure of On-Site Soil Treatment Units in a Temperate Climate, and the Role of Pre-treatment of Domestic Effluent in the Development of the Biomat Community

Spatial Variation of the Microbial Community Structure of On-Site Soil Treatment Units in a Temperate Climate, and the Role of Pre-treatment of Domestic Effluent in the Development of the Biomat Community

Applying Hierarchical Task Analysis to Depict Human Safety Errors during Pesticide Use in Vineyard Cultivation

Conservation tillage and soil health: Lessons from a 5-year UK farm trial (2013–2018)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About