Soil Quality of a Semi-Arid Pasture Irrigated with Reverse Osmosis Wastewater—A Case Study from Northern New Mexico

Omololu J. Idowu,Kevin A. Lombard,April L. Ulery,Don Hyder

doi:10.4236/jwarp.2015.714092

Omololu J. Idowu, Kevin A. Lombard

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4236/jwarp.2015.714092

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Abstract

Soil quality indicators were assessed in two adjacent fields in northern New Mexico near a reverse osmosis (RO) facility. One field had been cleared of native vegetation, sowed with a pasture mix and irrigated with saline RO wastewater (electrical conductivity (EC) of 2.73 dS/m) (WW) for two years. An adjacent field of non-irrigated, undisturbed native vegetation (NV) that received only natural rainfall was sampled for comparison and assumed to be representative of baseline values. Measurements included mean weight diameter (MWD), dry aggregates > 2 mm (D > 2 mm), dry aggregates < 0.25 mm (D < 0.25 mm), wet aggregate stability, permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC), soil organic matter, EC, pH, sand, silt and clay contents, and chemical parameters (NO3-N, P, Ca, Mg, Na, Zn, Fe, Mn and Cu). The wastewater irrigated field had more favorable soil quality indicators than the non-irrigated field, presumably due to the pasture mix and irrigation. However, the EC is higher in the WW irrigated field and will affect long-term utilization of the land for cropping, unless good soil salinity management is implemented.

Highlights

The oil and gas industry in northwest New Mexico (NM) uses ultrapure reverse osmosis (RO) water to coolHow to cite this paper: Idowu, O.J., Lombard, K.A., Hyder, D. and Ulery, A.L. (2015) Soil Quality of a Semi-Arid Pasture Irrigated with Reverse Osmosis Wastewater—A Case Study from Northern New Mexico
The electrical conductivity (EC) and total dissolved solids of the RO wastewater was in the slight to moderate restriction class for salinity (Table 1)
Results showed that many of the soil quality indicators measured were improved in the field that had RO wastewater applied, compared to the field without irrigation

Summary

Introduction

The oil and gas industry in northwest New Mexico (NM) uses ultrapure reverse osmosis (RO) water to coolHow to cite this paper: Idowu, O.J., Lombard, K.A., Hyder, D. and Ulery, A.L. (2015) Soil Quality of a Semi-Arid Pasture Irrigated with Reverse Osmosis Wastewater—A Case Study from Northern New Mexico. The oil and gas industry in northwest New Mexico (NM) uses ultrapure reverse osmosis (RO) water to cool. Large-scale RO plants generate significant amounts of saline reject water or concentrate, which are typically returned to the waste stream for disposal. This wastewater has been shown to contain a variety of dissolved salts and other chemicals [1]. In Oman and United Arab Emirates, where non-saline water is scarce and large-scale inland RO plants are used for the production of potable water, Ahmed et al [6] proposed RO wastewater for use in brine shrimp production and for raising salt tolerant plant species, provided that the soil and ground water quality were not undermined

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