Abstract
This work presents a non-conventional alternative for cleaning polluted agriculture drainage network within a certain watershed. In Egypt, a need for using marginal quality water in agriculture applications is becoming a great necessity due to water shortage. One important strategy to increase available water resources is to reuse agriculture drainage water for irrigation application. The water system, especially drainage network receives a remarkable amount of pollution (raw and partially treated wastewater). That results to an increase in organic load to an unacceptable level, accordingly, the water quality of the drainage water has been negatively affected and the "reuse" plan has been threatened. Fast-Track In-stream Action (FTIA) is an ongoing fast action suggested to control the pollution of drainage water within a certain watershed to make it more suitable for reuse practice. FTIA as a quick interfere will skip long-term processes of conventional water treatment stages to get satisfactory results in proper time. It presents a practical immediate solution to achieve acceptable level of water quality rather than waiting for full improvement through long-term and expensive conventional programs. In this study a biological maintenance solution was applied and tested in both bench and field scales to assess its efficiency in improving the water quality within selected watershed. An evaluation of this fast-track process was done by measuring a significant key water quality parameters (WQPs) at designed locations of the study area before, during and after application of material. For better explanation of overall water quality and proper comparison, a weighted arithmetic water quality index (AWQI) has been discussed based on eight selected WQPs. In addition to a bench-scale test, two other field investigations were adopted: the first one investigates the effects of fast-track resources when applying the bio-based material under high flow condition with intermediate shock flow (study area "1"), while the other one examine the application of material under low flow condition with intermediate shock pollution load (study area "2"). All indicators, including aesthetics showed improvements in selected WQPs and AWQI during the investigation period
Highlights
In Egypt, the Nile River supplies 73% of fresh water directly to different usages, while the reminder mostly comes indirectly from the reuse of drainage water [1]
A fast-track action strategy has been proposed: Fast-Track In-stream Action (FTIA) strategy can be achieved by introducing the following tools: 1- fast-track scheme to describe the target watershed by using Geographical Information System (GIS) [2] and using 2- fast-track resources as a bio-based material to directly target the hot spots within the watershed
The primary field investigation showed that the main pollutant in the drains is organic contamination, which is impacting a number of key water quality parameters (WQPs)
Summary
In Egypt, the Nile River supplies 73% of fresh water directly to different usages, while the reminder mostly comes indirectly from the reuse of drainage water [1]. The primary field investigation showed that the main pollutant in the drains is organic contamination, which is impacting a number of key WQPs. The fast-track resource used in this study is a bio-based material that has several applications including agriculture, composting, and bioremediation. The fast-track resource used in this study is a bio-based material that has several applications including agriculture, composting, and bioremediation It provides a sustainable risk free alternative to any biological system and are manufactured as dry powder. Most water policies adopted traditional strategies with continues dumping in water streams without serious consideration to its environmental effects on downstream, even when be considered, they were superficially touched within isolated administration boundaries. The need to fast-track action strategy within watershed boundary rather than administration one, as an emergency management alternative is getting urgently needed nowadays
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