Document Type : Original Article

Abstract

Recent drought has increased the consumption of fresh water resources to peak values in most parts of Iran. Water resources managers and planners have been forced to consider the use of all conventional and marginal-quality water (water of low quality) sources during planning. One of these marginal sources is treated municipal wastewater. The present study investigated the effects of the use of a drip irrigation system dispersing municipally-treated wastewater from the city of Shiraz on the chemical characteristics of clay loam soil in Badjgah in Fars province. Six water quality parameters were examined for treatments using freshwater, treated wastewater and fertilizer to irrigate broccoli. The results showed that application of treated municipal wastewater significantly increased the pH, SAR, and OC of the soil over that of the other treatments at 5% probability. Concentration of most chemical elements, such as nitrogen, potassium, and magnesium, and heavy metals, such as zinc, iron and lead, increased significantly increased at 5% probability for the wastewater treatment over the values for the other treatments.

Keywords

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