Changes in chemical quality of percolating raw and treated municipal wastewaters through soil columns

Population increase, limitation of water resources, and increasing volume of municipal wastewater, has caused the necessity of wastewater reuse. Application of wastewater on soils seems to be the most economical method of its disposal and by percolating wastewater through the soil, its chemical quality is improved. For this purpose, a greenhouse experiment was carried out with polyethylene columns (150 cm in length and 11 cm in diameter) during 7 periods of 15 days in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. A statistical completely randomized design was used. Raw and treated wastewaters from Parkandabad Treatment Plant were applied intermittent in columns filled with sandy loam soil. At The end of experiment, sampled of leachate were analyzed for parameters sach as pH, salinity, SAR, NO3-N, PO4-P, TOC, and two heavy metals of Cd and Ni. The results showed that the mean values of each of the above mentioned parameters, with the exception of pH, were lower in the leachate compared to the wastewaters entering the soil. However, with continuous application of wastewaters increase in the amount of these components was observed. Considering the effect of type of wastewater on values of above parameters, mean of pH value was significantly lower for raw wastewater (7.65) in the leachate as compared to the treated wastewater (7.71). NO3-N, PO4-P and Ni showed an opposite trend. The mean values of these parameters leached out from soil columns were 21.96, 0.055 and 0.015 (mg/l) for raw wastewater and 20.48, 0.024 and 0.012 (mg/l) for treated wastewater, respectively. Type of wastewater did not have any significant effect on other parameters. In generall, with respeet to the amount of SAR, NO3-N and TOC in the leachate as well as Ni and Cd specially in the raw wastewater and their hazardous consequences, their long-term disposals on soils need sound and suitable management practices.