Abstract
The reclaimed water from soil aquifer treatment (SAT) column was reused for irrigation as the source water, pollutants' removal and health risk assessment was analyzed via the comparison with secondary and tertiary effluents. The effect of the SAT pre-treatment on the qualities and growth of different crops (Lachca sativa – lettuce, Brasica rapa var chinensis – pak choi, Cucumis sativus – cucumber, Brassica oleracea – cabbage, and Zea mays – maize) were evaluated. Experimental results demonstrated that the tertiary and SAT treatments had no significant effect on the crop qualities, and could efficiently decrease the accumulation of heavy metals (especially for SAT pre-treatment). Moreover, the carcinogenic risk of the chemical carcinogens for the 1.5 m SAT effluent irrigation declined roughly an order of magnitude as compared with the secondary effluent, and three to four orders of magnitude decreasing of the virus risk. These findings are significant for the safe and cheap reuse of secondary effluent for irrigation purposes.
Highlights
Water shortage is a serious environmental issue in arid and semi-arid regions that requires the exploration of water reuse options (Bakopoulou et al ; Wei et al )
Secondary effluent was obtained from the Taiping wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), Harbin (China)
The artificial soil aquifer treatment (SAT) system exhibited an efficient removal of the organic matter in secondary effluent, with a removal efficiency of 51.3% for chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 58.7% for TOC
Summary
Water shortage is a serious environmental issue in arid and semi-arid regions that requires the exploration of water reuse options (Bakopoulou et al ; Wei et al ). To solve the water crisis throughout the world, rainfall, deep groundwater, seawater, etc., have been recognized as new alternative water resources (Elimelech & Phillip ; Erban et al ; Jung et al ). Considering that municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) produce stable and abundant flows during different seasons, development of secondary effluent as an attractive alternative for water reuse is practically urgent (Kalkan et al ; Zucker et al ). The traditional reuse approaches of secondary effluent include mainly agricultural irrigation, industrial processing, cooling water, toilet flushing, wetland habitat creation, restoration and maintenance, groundwater recharging, landscape water replenishment, among others (Bunani et al )
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
