Wastewater Reuse in Agriculture: A Review about Its Limitations and Benefits

Abstract

For centuries, wastewater has been improperly used in agriculture, presenting potential risks to public health and the environment. In the context of scientific development, and confronted by an increasing water crisis, wastewater reuse merits consideration because the practice helps decrease water use pressure and moderates water pollution. Thus, this article presents a literature review that addresses the effects, both positive and negative, of wastewater use in agriculture, emphasizing the effects on the soil environment. The literature review reveals that, until the 1990s, research studies promoted the use of wastewater for irrigation purposes from a treatment approach, while proposing "end of pipe" conventional solutions. However, more recent research studies (2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016) reveal that agricultural reuse significantly affects soil texture properties, while also causing possible alterations of the biomass and microbiota. In addition, research in this period has been oriented to the quantitative evaluation of microbiological risk.

Evaluation of two remediation techniques applied to a site impacted by petroleum production waters

“…Similar to the previous, the samples treated by natural attenuation also present recovery in % CC and % MO, for example, % CC in ANF is 32% and ANI of 33%, when comparing them with each other and the control, no differences signif icant (P ˃ 0.05); however, the values of % MO for ANF and ANI did not differ between them (P ˃ 0.05), but area different with the control (P < 0.05) since they are around 50% higher, but they have the same classif ication as the control according to the aforementioned norm, stands out that 4% of % MO was added and the contaminated soil had 0.1%, so it can be associated that only 1% can remove CE to conditions below the normative limit. Several studies have emphasized the importance of organic matter in soils, most agree that most of the biogeochemical processes in soil depend on them, mainly, the survival and development of plants (López, 2000;García et al, 2010;Jaramillo and Restrepo, 2017), in this sense, natural attenuation has values of % CC and % MO closer to the control, the previous thing recovers importance, due to the fact that in the study area the seeding is practiced by temporary and not by assisted risk .…”

Sustainable Sewage Sludge Management: From Current Practices to Emerging Nutrient Recovery Technologies

“…This requires the consideration of local regulations and to ensure that the pollutants will not be transferred to soil. Further, possible alterations of the soil texture properties, biomass, and microbiota should be considered [18].…”

Impact of treatment plant management on human health and ecological risks from wastewater irrigation in developing countries – case studies from Cochabamba, Bolivia

“…Microbial and ecological risks can be theoretically reduced by using technologies that provide an adequate level of treatment (e.g. secondary and tertiary) (Jaramillo and Restrepo 2017). However, well-functioning pre-treatment and primary treatment are critical, since they make secondary and tertiary treatments effective.…”

“…However, the potential benefits of reusing volumes of water and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) to increase crop yields are accompanied by risks to ecosystems and human health (Siebe and Cifuentes 1995). The major ecological risks arise due to excess nutrients, which can cause eutrophication of surface water systems or negatively affect groundwater (Uzen et al 2016;Jaramillo and Restrepo 2017). Irrigation with wastewater can also affect soil porosity by disturbing normal microbial activity (Toze 2006).…”