Pollution effects of wastewater sludge application to sandy soils with particular reference to the behaviour of mercury

Abstract

Hammarsdale, an industrial centre about 40 km inland from the coastal city of Durban, South Africa experiences effluent treatment problems typical of highly industrialised centres. The majority of the factories in the area manufacture textiles, with the remainder comprising chemical manufacturers and a large chicken processing plant. Effluent produced by these industries constitutes approximately 97% of the flow to the local wastewater treatment works. This is operated by Umgeni Water, a regional water supply authority which has an interest in pollution control as part of its integrated catchment management strategy. The activated sludge treatment process employed at the works produces a sludge which, following dewatering, is transported to a nearby land disposal site which has been engineered to ensure environmentally acceptable use is made of the site. The heavy metal concentrations of the sludges produced by the Hammarsdale Wastewater Works have long been a matter of concern, in particular the elevated concentrations of Hg. Investigations of the land disposal site showed that the Hg is bound in the upper topsoil (0–10 cm), and only very low concentrations are found in the subsoil. As the soils at the disposal site possess low cation exchange capacities, the difference between Hg concentrations in the top and subsoils may be attributed to binding of the Hg by organic matter introduced by sludge addition. Current research on the disposal area is focused on the movement of Hg, N and other elements through the soil profile into plants, surface and groundwater resources, with the ultimate aim of identifying suitable crops for cultivation at the site following its use as a sludge disposal facility.