Impact of Potentially Contaminated River Water on Agricultural Irrigated Soils in an Equatorial Climate

Abstract

Globally, it is estimated that 20 million hectares of arable land are irrigated with water that contains residual contributions from domestic liquids. This potentially poses risks to public health and ecosystems, especially due to heavy metals, which are considered dangerous because of their potential toxicity and persistence in the environment. The Villavicencio region (Colombia) is an equatorial area where rainfall (near 3000 mm/year) and temperature (average 25.6 • C) are high. Soil processes in tropical conditions are fast and react quickly to changing conditions. Soil properties from agricultural fields irrigated with river water polluted by a variety of sources were analysed and compared to non-irrigated control soils. In this study, no physico-chemical alterations were found that gave evidence of a change due to the constant use of river water that contained wastes. This fact may be associated with the climatic factors (temperature and precipitation), which contribute to fast degradation of organic matter and nutrient and contaminants (such as heavy metals) leaching, or to dilution of wastes by the river.

Effects of age and breed on trace elements content in cattle muscle and edible offal

“…These studies conducted show that the difference in the contents of trace elements and heavy metals found in the muscle and edible offal of the cattle may be caused due to regional differences, on the other hand, may result in more accumulation in particular organs, especially in the liver and kidneys of animals fattened up close to industrial areas. This can be explained by the soil characteristics of the region, as well as the contamination status of pasture lands and waters with industrial wastes (Tangahu et al, 2011;Trujillo-González et al, 2017). It was observed that the amounts of Pb and Cd found in the cattle liver and kidney tissues were higher in the study of Şenavcı et al, 1997 that was conducted in Ankara and Bursa cities than the values we obtained in our study.…”

Seasonal and Spatial Distribution of Soil Trace Elements around Kitchener Drain in the Northern Nile Delta, Egypt

“…Ali et al [8] reported accumulation of TEs in soil that resulted from continuous irrigation with polluted water. The relatively low concentration of TEs at some locations in the study area is probably due to the soil characteristics [51] and tidal effects in the Kitchener Drain, which flush the finer particles into deeper regions [5].…”

Performance of Medicago sativa Grown in Clay Soil Favored by Compost or Farmyard Manure to Mitigate Salt Stress

“…A semi-arid climate in the Mediterranean area, together with insufficient capacity and inappropriate quality of water resources contribute to the rate of soil degradation and prevention of its recovery [12,13]. Another key environmental problem is the heavy metals that affect the earth [14,15]. Given the continued worldwide expansion of salt-affected lands, more recent needs to focus on soil bioremediation with organic materials like compost, manure and plants as alfalfa with deep roots that can absorb and remove heavy metal.…”