title: Impact of reclaimed water irrigation on soil health in urban green areas.
abstract: Rapid increase of reclaimed water irrigation in urban green areas requires investigating its impact on soil health conditions. In this research, field study was conducted in 7 parks in Beijing with different histories of reclaimed water irrigation. Twenty soil attributes were analyzed to evaluate the effects of reclaimed water irrigation on the soil health conditions. Results showed that soil nutrient conditions were ameliorated by reclaimed water irrigation, as indicated by the increase of soil organic matter content (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), and available phosphorus (AP). No soil salinization but a slight soil alkalization was observed under reclaimed water irrigation. Accumulation of heavy metals in soil was insignificant. It was also observed that reclaimed water irrigation could significantly improve the soil microorganism activities. Overall, the soil health conditions were improved with reclaimed water irrigation, and the improvement increased when the reclaimed water irrigation period became longer.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. Electronic address: wpchen@rcees.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Weiping
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Sidan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Neng
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Beijing Garden Scientific Research Institute, Beijing 100102, China.
authors.forename: Yanchun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, United States.
authors.forename: Laosheng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D057914:Agricultural Irrigation / Q000379:methods*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002681:China; D002947:Cities; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis; D054712:Salinity; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D009584:Nitrogen; D010758:Phosphorus; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Reclaimed water irrigation; Soil heavy metal pollutions; Soil microbial activities; Soil nutrients; Soil salinity