Numerical Modeling of Soil Water Flow and Nitrogen Dynamics in a Tomato Field Irrigated with Municipal Wastewater

Abstract

Because of water scarcity, reduction of annual rainfall and the use of wastewater in agriculture, there is a need for research to evaluate the potential impacts of using such sources on hydraulic soil properties and groundwater quality. Nitrate loss from the area under cultivation and regular use of fertilizer and wastewater is a major reason for non-point source contamination on agricultural lands. Numerical model, Hydrus-1D used to simulate soil nitrate in soil cultivated with tomato-crop during the growing period, in North-East Iran. A randomized completely blocked design with five irrigation treatments with different sources of nitrogen was applied. Comparison between simulated and measured soil moisture content shows that the model can follow the temporal variation of soil water content. However, some over estimation of the measured data was observed during the simulation period. To evaluate the Hydrus model performance with respect to nitrogen transport and transformations, the simulated nitrogen concentrations (NH4-N and NO3-N) are compared for different treatments at different depths of soil profile, (7.5, 22.5, 37.5, 52.5 and 120 cm from soil surface). It takes about 4 days to convert 90% of urea into ammonium and it takes about 70 days to convert 90% of ammonium into nitrate. However, urea concentrations decreased with time between irrigations as a result of hydrolysis. As expected, at 3.73 days, the urea was concentrated near the surface, immediately after fertigation. Ammonium remained concentrated in the immediate in the top soil at all times for all treatments. There was only slight movement, because of soil adsorption and subsequent fast nitrification and/or root uptake. In contrast to ammonium, nitrate moved continuously downwards during the 28-day simulation period, as nitrate is not adsorbed, whereas denitrification was assumed negligible. Leaching percentages were smaller for nitrate wastewater compared to nitrate- fertilizer, and manure. Base on simulation results treated municipal wastewater by an aerated lagoon can be used as a valuable source of irrigation without causing contamination of groundwater.