title: Recycling of treated domestic effluent from an on-site wastewater treatment system for hydroponics.
abstract: An alternative method to conserve water and produce crops in arid regions is through hydroponics. Application of treated wastewater for hydroponics will help in stripping off nutrients from wastewater, maximising reuse through reduced evaporation losses, increasing control on quality of water and reducing risk of pathogen contamination. This study focuses on the efficiency of treated wastewater from an on-site aerobic wastewater treatment unit. The experiment aimed to investigate 1) nutrient reduction 2) microbial reduction and 3) growth rate of plants fed on wastewater compared to a commercial hydroponics medium. The study revealed that the chemical and microbial quality of wastewater after hydroponics was safe and satisfactory for irrigation and plant growth rate in wastewater hydroponics was similar to those grown in a commercial medium.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Technology Centre, Murdoch University, Western Australia, 6150 Australia.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Oyama
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Ho
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D018527:Hydroponics / Q000379:methods*; D063245:Plant Development; D011786:Quality Control; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods