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Abstract
The use of tertiary membrane-filtered municipal wastewater for irrigation as an alternative to natural freshwater sources was evaluated. Membrane filtration was considered as a viable technology to reclaim wastewater for irrigation, and the microbial and heavy metal impact on crops and soil was studied. The results of 2 years of research (2003 – 2004), carried out in Cerignola in the South of Italy, are reported. Tertiary treatment was carried out using a membrane filtration pilot plant with a hollow fibre submerged system. The water produced was used for drip irrigation of three vegetable crops in succession – processing tomato, fennel and lettuce – and compared with conventional water. Microbiological analyses were performed on the water used for irrigation, on soil samples and on marketable crops. Results show that the microbial content of soil and crops did not show relevant differences in relation to the two types of water. The measured values of heavy metals concentration in crops never exceeded toxic values. The filtered wastewater never caused an increase of bacterial concentration in the soil nor on the edible part of crops. Therefore, tertiary filtered municipal wastewater can be considered a valid alternative source of water for vegetable crop irrigation.
Acknowledgements
Pilot plant and reuse experiments were performed within the project “AQUATEC”, funded by the Italian Ministry of Research (PON Ricerca 2000 – 2006). Monitoring of Giardia cysts and Cryptosporidium oocysts were in part supported by a grant of the Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca, Italy, COFIN-PRIN 2004 Project: Giardia and Cryptosporidium: analysis of zoonotic potential of environmental isolates and evaluation of removal efficiency of new filtration methods for wastewater.