مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Use of treated municipal wastewater for agricultural irrigation

Abstract :

Owing to the growing need for water in the world, municipalwastewaters have become attractive in agricultural irrigationespecially due to their volume and nutrient contain. Wastewater is usedin many parts of the world in a widespread manner, by treated, bypartial treated, by dilution or by no treated, for water scarcity oreconomic reasons in agricultural irrigation. But compared to mostindustrial wastewater, municipal wastewaters are less complex andcontain easily removable pollutants, but they are a threat to human andenvironment in the short and long term if these pollutants are notremoved. The most important of these pollutants are pathogens directlythreatening human health. Except pathogens, there are manysuspended or dissolved organic and inorganic contaminants inwastewater. These pollutants accumulate in the result of long-termirrigation, resulting in physical and chemical deteriorations in soilstructure and contamination of surface and groundwater threateninghuman life directly or indirectly. For this reason, for sustainableagricultural irrigation, wastewaters must be purified appropriatelybefore their use for this purpose, and pollutant concentrations must beconstantly controlled. The grade of the treatment and the technologiesto be used can be selected based on the pollutants and limit valuesdetermined by that country or the World Health Organization. Manystudies have shown that suitably treated wastewaters can be used inagricultural irrigation, including raw fruits and vegetables.