title: Soil amendment with olive mill wastes: impact on groundwater.
abstract: Two sets of soil lysimeters were amended with solid and liquid olive mill wastes and the composition of leachate was analysed. Five treatments were carried out using: olive mill wastewater (OMW) at two different rates (80 and 320 m(3)/ha); OMW pre-treated by catalytical digestion with MnO2; compost obtained by exhausted olive pomace; freshwater as the control. Electric conductivity, pH, potassium, total polyphenols and nitrates were monitored in the leachate as indexes of potential groundwater contamination. The study demonstrated that the impact of all the selected amendments on groundwater was the minimum. OMW was safely applied to soil even at four times the rate allowed by the Italian law, and pre-treatment by catalytical digestion was not necessary to further reduce the impact on groundwater. The application of olive pomace compost was equally safe.
authors.affiliation: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Ricerca Sulle Acque, Viale F. De Blasio, 5, 70132 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Clementina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Caputo
authors.forename: Anna Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: De Girolamo
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Volpe
mesh_terms: D060587:Groundwater / Q000032:analysis*; D007220:Industrial Waste; D031658:Olea; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D007220:Industrial Waste; D012987:Soil
keywords: Environmental impacts; Groundwater pollution; Lysimeters; Olive mill wastes; Soil application