Effect of treated wastewater on soil chemical and physical properties in an arid region

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of treated wastewater on soil chemical and physical properties. Field experiment was conducted in Borkhar region in Isfahan province in central Iran with two water treatments of wastewater and groundwater under sprinkler and surface irrigation systems for three crops of sugar beet, corn and sunflower. Soil samples were collected to 120 cm depth to determine concentration of lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn). Irrigation systems had no significant effect on extractable heavy metals in soil. The accumulation of Pb, Mn, Ni and Co in the soil increased significantly in the wastewater treatment as compared to the groundwater treatment. The accumulation of Pb, Mn, Ni, Co, Cu and Zn decreases with the soil depth. Treated wastewater showed no effect on the increase of Fe, Cd, Ni, Cu and Zn during growing season. The irrigation system had a significant effect on infiltration rate, bulk density and total porosity. Under sprinkler irrigation system the infiltration rate increased significantly.

The changes in the physical and hydraulic properties of a loamy soil under irrigation with simpler-reclaimed wastewaters

“…Several studies have shown that wastewater irrigated soils had higher aggregate stability and porosity and lower bulk density because of the presence of higher organic C in wastewater irrigated soils compared to freshwater irrigated soils (Mojiri, 2011; Mojid and Wyseure, 2013 ;Vogeler, 2009). However, some researchers found higher bulk density and lower porosity because of dispersion and sedimentation (Abedi-Koupai et al, 2006;Aiello et al, 2007;Coppola et al, 2004). Therefore, it could be said that practical meaningful results about bulk density and porosity have not been obtained due to possible sedimentation under wastewater irrigation.…”

Impact of Treated Wastewater on Some Physicochemical Parameters Soil and Its Fungal Content

“…This work result ' s showed low Cd concentrations. Application of treated wastewater had no significant effect on the accumulation of soil Cd compared with the beginning stage and with the groundwater treatment [8]. The number of fungal colonies per gram of soil is shown in Table III and IV.…”

Short-Term Effects of Wastewater Land Application on Soil Chemical Properties

“…Soil pH (Hu et al 2005;Qian and Mecham 2005;Walker and Lin 2007), organic matter content (Walker and Lin 2007), Na, B, P, soil water electrical conductivity, and SAR (Qian and Mecham 2005) were found to increase in the long term of wastewater land application systems. The accumulation of Pb, Mn, Ni, and Co in the soil significantly increased after wastewater land application, and such an accumulation decreased with the depth (Abedi-Koupai et al 2006); Ca and Mg (Heidarpour et al 2007;Hu et al 2005) in wastewater were found to be adsorbed to the soil particles in some soil layers and soil Al content decreased after wastewater land application (Hu et al 2005), however, Heidarpour et al (2007) found that there was no significant impact of wastewater land application on soil Na, P, and total nitrogen.…”

“…Those research indicated that the application of wastewater in some cases caused the increase of soil bulk density, the decrease of soil porosity, and the decrease of soil hydraulic conductivity and permeability (Aiello et al 2007;Wallach et al 2005;Wang et al 2003). Abedi-Koupai et al (2006) found that soil infiltration rate and saturated hydraulic conductivity increased after wastewater land application by sprinkler irrigation, but decreased by surface irrigation. Soil pH (Hu et al 2005;Qian and Mecham 2005;Walker and Lin 2007), organic matter content (Walker and Lin 2007), Na, B, P, soil water electrical conductivity, and SAR (Qian and Mecham 2005) were found to increase in the long term of wastewater land application systems.…”