Purpose: to conduct an agroecological assessment of the feasibility of using treated wastewater from urban municipal wastewater treatment plants for irrigation.
Materials and methods. Agroecological assessment of water quality based on mineralization, chloride salinity, heavy metal content and sanitary and parasitological indicators was carried out. The object of the study is treated wastewater from urban municipal wastewater treatment plants in Rostov region.
Results. The primary requirement determining the possibility of using treated wastewater from municipal wastewater treatment plants is their sanitary and parasitological safety; the waters under study fully meet this requirement. The assessment showed an excess of 2–2.5 times compared to the maximum permissible concentrations of copper, manganese and iron. The total salt concentration was in the range of 1200–1500 mg/cubic dm, the indicator for chlorine (chloride salinity) was in the range of 0.42–0.65, which indicated their limited suitability for using in irrigation due to the danger of soil salinization and contamination with heavy metals. An assessment of the fertilizing value of treated wastewater in terms of phosphorus showed that the phosphorus content in terms of P₂O₅ required for fertigation of vegetable crops was 1.6–3.7 times higher.
Conclusions. An analysis of the qualitative composition of treated wastewater from the municipal wastewater treatment plants under study showed that before using it for irrigation, the dilution with clean fresh water is required. Dilution will lead to a decrease in the fertilizing value of nitrogen, and accordingly, a loss of a complex fertilizing effect. The efficiency of using treated wastewater for irrigation should be determined based on a comparison of the financial costs of delivering water to the irrigation network, pre-mixing it with clean fresh water with the environmental effect of utilization of insufficiently treated wastewater in terms of water quality requirements during discharge into natural water bodies.
treated wastewater, fertilizing value, sanitary and parasitological safety, soil salinization, heavy metal pollution
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