Effect of Treated Wastewater on Soil Chemical Properties under Cotton Cultivation

Abstract

The reuse of urban wastewater treatment needs to be further explored due to some extent of potential hazards raised from the spread of various contagious diseases and the presence of toxic elements. At the same time and due to the presence of carbon and nitrogen, the treated wastewater can have beneficial effects on physical and chemical properties of agricultural soil. To assess the impacts of such irrigations, research has been made as farm pilots for depths of 0-40 cm in soil, in a completely randomized design with three replications of five treatments of irrigation. The study treatments were the well water T1, wastewater T2, combining 50% water and 50% wastewater T3, alternate irrigation water and wastewater T4, and the combination of 33% water and 66% wastewater (used by farmers) T5. The well water treatment were considered as control sample. Chemical analysis showed permissible changes in cations and anions in soil irrigated by treated urban wastewater in accordance to irrigation standards. Average amounts of Calcium, Potassium, Phosphorus, Nitrogen, Sulfate, Magnesium, Sodium and Chloride were measured as 22.80, 494.4, 7.87, 1.028, 9.34, 8.34, 39.2 and 25.7 mg/l, respectively. The amounts of average EC and pH were respectively equal to 3387 μm/m and 8.7. In general, the results showed that using treated urban wastewater had no destructive effect on soil.

Keywords

• chemical properties of soil
• cotton cultivation
• wastewater treatment
• well water