Abstract
Beressa is a major perennial river in the North Shewa Zone of Amhara regional state and it takes the north-west ward to join the Jema River, which form the tributary of the Blue Nile around a place known as Sundo Meskel near the lower side of Abay Bereha. On its natural flow way, the River provides different uses that can be determined in terms of environmental, economical and social values. However, the River is facing an interruption on its potential service especially for irrigation due to its quality deterioration by the discharge of untreated wastes from different sectors in the town of Debre Berhan. Thus, this study was conducted to reveal the impact the river water quality on the chemical properties of the irrigated soils along the river bank. On the bases of their position and extent of water pollution, three different farms were identified and representative soil samples were collected from each for laboratory analysis. All the soils were clay loam in texture with the lowest amounts of pH (6.10), electrical conductivity (EC) (0.10 dS cm-1), organic matter (OM) (3.46%), total N (0.22%), C:N (9.12), available P (30.35 mg kg-1), cation exchange capacity (CEC) (23.75 cmol(+) kg-1), Na (0.11 cmol(+) kg-1), K (0.73 cmol(+) kg-1), Ca (8.25 cmol(+) kg-1), Mg (4.32 cmol(+) kg-1), Cu (1.19 mg kg-1), Zn (2.18 mg kg-1), Cr (1.15 mg kg-1) and Pb (1.11 mg kg-1) at farm 2 (never been irrigated from the River water), and had no detected Cd, Ni, As and Hg. Therefore, in addition to the difference in agronomic management practices, the River water had a direct connection with almost all presences of the concerned chemicals specifically in the soils of irrigated farms. Eventually, conducting pollution remediation studies is as such important in curing the current illness in the Beressa River water and in some instances in the soils under irrigation. Key words: Water quality, heavy metals, micronutrients, soil chemical compositions.
Highlights
Unsafe industrial and municipal wastes can introduce hazardous chemicals into the environment which cause ecological imbalance and health problems (Pierzeynski et al, 2000)
The twenty seven (27) years (1985 to 2011) data obtained from the Ethiopian National Meteorological Agency indicates that, the area receives a mean annual rainfall of 927.10 mm and characterized by a unimodal rainfall pattern with a maximum (293.02 mm) and minimum (4.72 mm) peaks in August and December, respectively
Three different farm sites were selected based on their position and exposure to pollution; one was the Debre Berhan University’s Research and Demonstration Field (Farm 2) that has never been irrigated by the Beressa River water, the rest two were the different farms around the Eyerusalem (Farm 1) and Tera (Farm 3) vegetable farms that are located at the upper and down streams of the River on its way through the Tebasie sub-town (Figure 1)
Summary
Unsafe industrial and municipal wastes can introduce hazardous chemicals into the environment which cause ecological imbalance and health problems (Pierzeynski et al, 2000). These wastes, useful as a source of nutrients, are sources of carcinogens and toxic metals (Zhen-Guo et al, 2002). Unwise and poorly practiced urban and industrial activities can degrade the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil and in many cases they irreversibly reduce its multi functionality (Blum, 1996). Undesirable and over use of agricultural chemicals has different effects on fertility and productivity of the soil and quality of fauna and flora in the ecosystem. Glyphosate reduces the growth and activity of free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria in soil (Santos and Flores, 1995) and 2,4-D reduces N fixation by reducing the growth and activity of bacteria that live on the roots of bean plants (Fabra et al, 1997)
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