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Effects of wastewater application on saturated hydraulic conductivity of different soil textures
Author(s) -
Reza Sepaskhah Ali,
Sokoot Masoud
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of plant nutrition and soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.644
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1522-2624
pISSN - 1436-8730
DOI - 10.1002/jpln.200800220
Subject(s) - loam , wastewater , soil water , soil texture , hydraulic conductivity , irrigation , environmental science , soil science , environmental engineering , agronomy , biology
As metropolitan areas expand, the municipal and industrial uses of freshwater increase. Therefore, water resources for irrigation become limited and wastewater reuse for irrigation becomes a good alternative. For this purpose, the effects of suspended solids in wastewater on the soil physical properties, i.e. , saturated hydraulic conductivity, K s , have to be considered. The objectives of this research were to study the effects of applying freshwater and differently treated wastewater on K s in the surface and subsurface layers of sandy‐loam, loam, and clay‐loam soils. This effect was studied by investigating the ratio of K s for wastewater to K s for fresh water in soil surface as K r1 and in soil subsurface as K r2 . The results showed that the application of freshwater did not reduce the K r1 considerably. However, the reduction in K r1 mainly occurred in soil depth of 0–50 mm due to the application of wastewater. This effect is more pronounced in clay‐loam soil than in loam and sandy‐loam soils. It is concluded that application of wastewater with TSS (total suspended solid) of ≥ 40 mg L –1 resulted in K r1 reduction of >50% in different soil textures. However, the K r2 reduction at soil depth of 100–300 mm is not considerable by application of wastewater for different soil textures. Further, it is concluded that less purified wastewater can be used in light‐texture soils resulting in less reduction in K r1 . Empirical models were developed for predicting the value of K r1 as a function of amounts of wastewater application and TSS for different soil textures that can be used in management of wastewater application for preventing deterioration of soil hydraulic conductivity.