Integrated management of treated wastewater reuse in irrigation and its role in environment conservation

Abstract

Availability of suitable water is considered one of the most important factors in increasing and expanding cultivated areas. In arid and semi-arid areas where water is scarce, several studies and researches have indicated the beneficial role of reusing wastewater in partially solving this problem. Moreover, the reuse of wastewater helps in protecting the environment as it reduces pollution and causes no harm to plants, groundwater and human health. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to pin point the economic benefits of reusing secondary treated wastewater, which begins by separating solid materials from liquid and then activating living microorganisms as a means of making the best use of the existing resources. In this study, field surveys were made for summer and winter crops throughout three seasons in rotation to evaluate the impact of irrigation with secondary treated wastewater on the yield and quality of some field crops in comparison to canal water. In each season, treatments included using two sources of irrigation water; i.e. wastewater and canal water, and two fertilization treatments (application recommended rates of chemical fertilizers and control). Crop selection included fodder, oil crop, sugar crop and grain crops. Results demonstrated that crops irrigated with secondary treated wastewater were equally similar to or significantly better than those irrigated with canal water. Heavy metal concentrations were very low and had no effect on the crop quality or animal and human dietary intake. There were no detectable effects of wastewater on soil quality. Results also indicated that wastewater could offer an adequate amount of crop requirements from N and more crop requirements of K. © 2011 WIT Press.