Recovering nutrients from wastewater for use in sports fields

Abstract

Recently, the use of treated wastewater for irrigation has received a worldwide attention, particularly, in water-scarce regions. Wastewater reclamation for the irrigation not only can be a solution for the water shortage around the world, but also can reduce the pressure on the environment by decreasing the effluent discharge into receiving waters which would result in their pollution reduction. In fact, the advantage of wastewater usage is using a resource that, otherwise, would be considered as waste to be discarded. Presence of a significant amount of organic and inorganic nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in wastewater makes it even more valuable for agriculture where it can contribute to the lesser usage of commercial fertilisers. Soils and plants properties would be affected differently under irrigation using different types of treated wastewaters. In the present study the impact of two different types of treated wastewater namely MBR (Membrane Bioreactor Treatment System) and IDAL (Intermittently Decanted Aerated Lagoon) along with tap water (TW) was evaluated on soil and kikuyu grass properties as well as grass production. MBR is a secondary treatment of wastewater process which is now widely used for municipal and industrial wastewater purposes. On the other hand, IDAL is an advanced treatment of wastewater for removing nutrients. MBR and IDAL although have similar salt contents, they are significantly different in terms of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP). Reviewing the literature, worldwide, many researchers have evaluated the effect of various types of treated wastewaters on soil and plant properties in different agricultural systems. However, comparison of wastewaters treated by MBR and IDAL systems under kikuyu grass production has not been reported in the literature. The study provided in the thesis consists of two phases, namely, lysimeter and field scale studies. Also, the laboratory work included the analyses of soil, water and plant materials for various nutrients and other parameters. Lysimeter study was conducted for a period of one year covering autumn 2016 to summer 2017, using three relatively large identical lysimeters. Field study was carried out over the period of November 2018 to February 2020. No commercial fertilisers were used under both phases.

Date of Award	2020
Original language	English