Reuse of Treated Sanitary Sewage and Agricultural Water Drainage as Alternative Sources for Irrigation of Aghili Plain Vegetables

Subject Areas : water and wastewater

Hossein Soltani Kazemi ¹ , Ehsan Derikvand ²

1 - M.Sc. Student, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Shooshtar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shooshtar, Iran
2 - Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Shoushtar Branch, Shoushtar, Iran

Received: 2019-10-03 Accepted : 2020-06-13 Published : 2019-12-16

Keywords: Wastewater treatment, Sanitary Wastewater, Agricultural Water Drainage, Alternative Water Resources, Vegetable Irrigation,

Abstract :

Due to the scarcity of water in Iran and the growth of population and urbanization, planning for optimal use of water resources and recycling of water from unconventional sources has become more necessary. This study aimed to reuse refined sanitary sewage and agricultural water drainage as alternative sources of irrigation for vegetables. For this purpose, 6 species of seed; red radish, sugarcane, coriander, savory, dill and leek were sown and studied in three replications: 1-irrigation with well water, 2-irrigation with agricultural drainage, and 3-irrigation with treated wastewater. Each seed was seeded at 100 g in 3 replications. Soil quality, heavy metals in soil, water pollution and parasitic tests and water hygiene were measured at different stages. Vegetable weight and height were also measured at harvest time to compare three replications. The results showed that the weight and height of the vegetables in the three replications were not significantly different, but the growth size of the vegetable was higher than the other two replications. Environmental standards for agricultural irrigation were achieved after wastewater treatment, but the amount of heavy metals in soil after irrigation was slightly increased and soil salinity decreased. Finally, it is recommended to conduct continuous health and quality control tests to avoid wasting water from agricultural water drainage for irrigation of vegetables and the use of purified sanitation in special cases.