Risk assessment of waste water irrigation on the agricultural land
Abstract: The study was conducted on loamy sand soil at Helwan district (about 29 Km South of Cairo), adjacent to the industrial complex in Cairo Governorate. That area consists of small private farms, depends upon wastewater in irrigation.
Randomized samples of some cultivated plants grown thereon i.e., corn, blackeyed bean, egg plant, pepper, cucumber and okra, were collected and their associated soil samples were also taken, to determine the heavy metals content. in both soil and plant samples.
The results indicated that , heavy metals namely, Ni, Co, Cd and Pb, were highly accumulated in soils and associated crops, with increasing years of using wastewater for irrigation. The above metals could be arranged, with respect to their content in the former plants, in the following order: Ni > Co = Pb > Cd .
Vegetable crops accumulated more amounts of heavy metals, than cereal or legume crops. Moreover, obvious differences in their content of heavy metals were found, and followed the sequence: pepper > eggplant > okra > cucumber.
On the other hand, In spite of the short period for using waste water in irrigation, the amounts of heavy metals accumulated in the tested soils and plants, were higher than the critical levels, which may progress to a serious problem in the food chain. Therefor , offorestation is the best way for use of wastewater for irrigation
Publication year 2003
Pages 342-353
Availability location Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute, ARC
Availability number
Organization Name
City Zagazig
serial title Egyptian Journal of Applied Sciences
ISSN 1110-1571
Department Soil Physics and Chemistry
Author(s) from ARC
External authors (outside ARC)
    الهام عباس ضرغام هيئة الطاقة الذرية
Agris Categories Soil erosion, conservation and reclamation
AGROVOC
TERMS		 Farmland. Heavy metals. Irrigation water. Sandy soils. Vegetable crops. Wastewater.
Publication Type Journal
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