Assessment of phytotoxicity of treated water of Tabuk wastewater plant by different technologies on seed germination of chick pea (Cicer arietinum).

Zahid Hameed Siddiqui,Zahid Khorshid Abbas

doi:10.2166/wst.2021.287

Abstract

The use of reclaimed water as an alternative source is a sustainable way forward for an arid country like The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The sewage contains organic and inorganic pollutants from households and industrial sources that may not be removed during treatment. In this study, seeds of Cicer arietinum were germinated using six different concentrations of treated water from the Tabuk wastewater treatment plant and tap water was used as control. The physicochemical properties such as total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, total suspended solids, and turbidity values of treated water were higher, which gradually decreased on dilution with tap water. The amount of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate was in higher concentration in treated water as compared to control. The use of 40% treated water (T3) improved the germination percentage, speed of germination and germination index of C. arietinum. The phytotoxicity test reveals that undiluted treated water (T6) is not fit for direct use on plants. All the investigated treatments confirmed that the use of more than 40% of treated water decreased the fresh weight and dry weight of the seedlings as compared to control. The results are encouraging and help in attaining water sustainability in the Tabuk region.

Highlights

Water is indispensable to life, though 785 million people in the world have shortage of access to it
To our best knowledge, this is the first report of the use of reclaimed water of Tabuk wastewater treatment plant in a seed germinationbased experiment
The results are encouraging and help in attaining water sustainability in the Tabuk region. It decreases the load of desalination of the Red Sea and helps to fulfil the sustainable development goals of VISION 2030 of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

Summary

Introduction

Water is indispensable to life, though 785 million people in the world have shortage of access to it. Fresh water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource in many countries, due to population growth, enormous urbanization, poor agricultural and water management practices, water pollution and change in climatic pattern (Khaleel et al 2013; Ganjegunte et al 2017; Singh et al 2019; Siddiqui et al 2020). This has led to water scarcity even in those nations where water is present in abundance. The use of reclaimed water for irrigation and recharge of the aquifer is a sustainable way forward (Ibekwe et al 2018; Abbas & Siddiqui 2020; Ofori et al 2021)

Methods

Results

Conclusion