Assessing environmental impacts of constructed wetland effluents for vegetable crop irrigation.
The objective of this study was to monitor and assess environmental impacts of reclaimed wastewater (RW), used for irrigation of vegetable crops, on soil, crop quality and irrigation equipment. During 2013, effluents of a horizontal sub-surface flow constructed treatment wetland (TW) system, used for tertiary treatment of sanitary wastewater from a small rural municipality located in Eastern Sicily (Italy), were reused by micro-irrigation techniques to irrigate vegetable crops. Monitoring programs, based on in situ and laboratory analyses were performed for assessing possible adverse effects on water-soil-plant systems caused by reclaimed wastewater reuse. In particular, experimental results evidenced that Escherichia coli content found in RW would not present a risk for rotavirus infection following WHO (2006) standards. Irrigated soil was characterized by a certain persistence of microbial contamination and among the studied vegetable crops, lettuce responds better, than zucchini and eggplants, to the irrigation with low quality water, evidencing a bettering of nutraceutical properties and production parameters.
a Dept Agricoltura , Alimentazione e Ambiente, University of Catania , Catania , Italy.
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Castorina
a Dept Agricoltura , Alimentazione e Ambiente, University of Catania , Catania , Italy.
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Consoli
a Dept Agricoltura , Alimentazione e Ambiente, University of Catania , Catania , Italy.
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Barbagallo
b Dept Agricoltura , Alimentazione e Ambiente, University of Catania , Catania , Italy.
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Branca
c Dept of Agricultural Engineering , University of Benha , Egypt.
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Farag
a Dept Agricoltura , Alimentazione e Ambiente, University of Catania , Catania , Italy.
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Licciardello
a Dept Agricoltura , Alimentazione e Ambiente, University of Catania , Catania , Italy.
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Cirelli
D057914:Agricultural Irrigation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D007558:Italy; D014675:Vegetables / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis* / Q000382:microbiology; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D053833:Wetlands
D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
micro-irrigation; microbial risk assessment; reclaimed wastewater; treatment wetland; vegetable crops