Use of treated municipal wastewater for agricultural irrigation

Abstract

Owing to the growing need for water in the world, municipal wastewaters have become attractive in agricultural irrigation especially due to their volume and nutrient contain. Wastewater is used in many parts of the world in a widespread manner, by treated, by partial treated, by dilution or by no treated, for water scarcity or economic reasons in agricultural irrigation. But compared to most industrial wastewater, municipal wastewaters are less complex and contain easily removable pollutants, but they are a threat to human and environment in the short and long term if these pollutants are not removed. The most important of these pollutants are pathogens directly threatening human health. Except pathogens, there are many suspended or dissolved organic and inorganic contaminants in wastewater. These pollutants accumulate in the result of long-term irrigation, resulting in physical and chemical deteriorations in soil structure and contamination of surface and groundwater threatening human life directly or indirectly. For this reason, for sustainable agricultural irrigation, wastewaters must be purified appropriately before their use for this purpose, and pollutant concentrations must be constantly controlled. The grade of the treatment and the technologies to be used can be selected based on the pollutants and limit values determined by that country or the World Health Organization. Many studies have shown that suitably treated wastewaters can be used in agricultural irrigation, including raw fruits and vegetables.