Flexible wastewater treatment processes benefit crops

This framework is described in a paper, "Wastewater Reuse for Agriculture: Development of a Regional Water Reuse Decision-Support Model (RWRM) for Cost-Effective Irrigation Sources," which appears in the current online issue of the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology, published by the American Chemical Society.

"While the reuse of treated wastewater is not a new concept, concerns over the rising demand for water from population growth, coupled with both economic and environmental challenges, have made this option more attractive," wrote Quynh K. Tran, a UCR Ph.D. student in chemical and environmental engineering; Kurt Schwabe, professor of environmental economics and policy; and David Jassby, assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering.

The reuse model the research team developed assumes that wastewater has been treated to meet state standards for removing pathogens and focuses on producing irrigation water with chemical properties tailored for use on specific crops and grasses.

Blending wastewater from various treatment processes could produce water with nutrients that are beneficial to specific crops, which would reduce fertiliser costs and increase the affordability of recycled wastewater, the researchers said.

Raw wastewater typically contains high levels of nutrients, specifically nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, which can be utilised by plants.

"However, to meet state and federal water quality regulations, most conventional wastewater treatment plants subject this raw effluent to primary, secondary, tertiary, and disinfection processes, which results in significant removal of nutrients," the team explained.

The researchers identified seven feasible wastewater treatment technologies and 11 wastewater treatment trains currently in use. A treatment train is a sequence of treatments aimed at meeting a specific standard.

Using citrus and turfgrass to test the economic model, the UC Riverside team estimated and compared the costs and water-quality characteristics of treated wastewater under a variety of treatment combinations.

They eliminated some treatment combinations as unfeasible because they were unable to produce optimal chemical blends. Other combinations produced blends that were feasible based on their chemical content, but some were not cost-effective for small and medium-sized wastewater treatment plants.

The model demonstrates that "wastewater treatment trains can be optimised to produce irrigation water suitable for a wide range of crops with varying salinity tolerance, reducing the impact on soil and crop quality that is currently experienced by irrigators using conventionally treated wastewater," Tran, Schwabe and Jassby found. "Salinity, heavy metals, and pathogens were minimised to comply with existing regulations and safe agriculture practices.