Journal of Advances in Environmental Health Research

Journal of Advances in Environmental Health Research

Providing Water Quality Index for Water use in Agriculture: A Case Study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Sosan Rezaei
Ebrahim Fataei
Department of Environment, Ardabil Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil, Iran
10.34172/jaehr.1362
Abstract
Background: Most countries face water scarcity, population growth, climate change, uneven water distribution, excessive water use, and biological, agricultural, and industrial water pollution. Using wastewater and brackish waterways for cultivation reduces pollution. Polluted water impacts human biology. Thus, they must be adequately studied before irrigating crops.
Methods: This study used the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to assess the quality of non-conventional agricultural waters from the Karaj and Anbaj wastewater treatment plants in Iran. Water quality was evaluated based on 7 primary criteria and 52 sub-criteria. The Canadian Water Quality Index (CWQI) and the proposed model were developed from the measured parameters of the effluent from both the Anbaj and Karaj treatment plants. The data were analyzed using the Expert Choice software.
Results: In this study, chloride, fecal coliforms, and intestinal parasite eggs received the highest scores, while arsenic (As) and molybdenum (Mo) were assigned the lowest scores. The findings indicated that the effluent from the Anbaj wastewater treatment plant requires extensive treatment before being suitable for agricultural use. In contrast, the effluent from the Karaj wastewater treatment plant was of moderate quality and requires minimal treatment. This study recommends applying the proposed model to evaluate wastewater quality for agricultural purposes.
Conclusion: Researches of soil and wastewater interactions suggests that crops irrigated with wastewater may pose risks to both ecosystems and human health due to physical, chemical, and microbiological factors. These impacts can compromise soil fertility and productivity. Therefore, the use of wastewater in agricultural practices should be implemented with appropriate safeguards.
Keywords
Analytical hierarchy process method
Sewage effluent
Wastewater
Water reuse

Subjects

  1. Borrmann S. Globaler Wandel und Konfliktpotenzial: Die Klimaänderung als Hintergrund von Verteilungskämpfen und Kriegen um Wasser. In: Konflikte um Ressourcen-Kriege um Wahrheit. Verlag Karl Alber; 2013. p. 107-238.
  2. Al-Gheethi AA, Noman EA, Radin Mohamed RM, Talip BA, Abdullah AH, Mohd Kassim AH. Reuse of greywater for irrigation purpose. In: Radin Mohamed RM, Al-Gheethi AA, Mohd Kassim AH, eds. Management of Greywater in Developing Countries: Alternative Practices, Treatment and Potential for Reuse and Recycling. Cham: Springer; 2019. p. 73-87. doi: 1007/978-3-319-90269-2_4.
  3. Zhang Y, Shen Y. Wastewater irrigation: past, present, and future. WIREs Water. 2019;6(3):e1234. doi: 1002/wat2.1234.
  4. Beithou N. Non-conventional water resources-review and developments. Int J Res Sci. 2015;3(1):1-8.
  5. Deepa K, Krishnaven M. Reuse options of reclaimed waste water in Chennai city. Int J Comput Eng Res. 2015;5(3):2250-3005.
  6. Hoekstra AY, Mekonnen MM. The water footprint of humanity. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2012;109(9):3232-7. doi: 1073/pnas.1109936109.
  7. Nam WH, Choi JY, Hong EM. Irrigation vulnerability assessment on agricultural water supply risk for adaptive management of climate change in South Korea. Agric Water Manag. 2015;152:173-87. doi: 1016/j.agwat.2015.01.012.
  8. Pedrero F, Kalavrouziotis I, Alarcón JJ, Koukoulakis P, Asano T. Use of treated municipal wastewater in irrigated agriculture—review of some practices in Spain and Greece. Agric Water Manag. 2010;97(9):1233-41. doi: 1016/j.agwat.2010.03.003.
  9. Helmecke M, Fries E, Schulte C. Regulating water reuse for agricultural irrigation: risks related to organic micro-contaminants. Environ Sci Eur. 2020;32(1):4. doi: 1186/s12302-019-0283-0.
  10. Jaramillo MF, Restrepo I. Wastewater reuse in agriculture: a review about its limitations and benefits. Sustainability. 2017;9(10):1734. doi: 3390/su9101734.
  11. Abaidoo RC, Keraita B, Drechsel P, Dissanayake P, Maxwell AS. Soil and crop contamination through wastewater irrigation and options for risk reduction in developing countries. In: Dion P, ed. Soil Biology and Agriculture in the Tropics. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2010. p. 275-97. doi: 1007/978-3-642-05076-3_13.
  12. Li Q, Tang J, Wang T, Wu D, Busso CA, Jiao R, et al. Impacts of sewage irrigation on soil properties of farmland in China: a review. Solid Earth Discuss. 2017;2017:1-24. doi: 5194/se-2017-116.
  13. Javadinejad S, Eslamian S, Ostad-Ali-Askari K, Nekooei M, Azam N, Talebmorad H, et al. Relationship between climate change, natural disaster, and resilience in rural and urban societies. In: Leal Filho W, ed. Handbook of Climate Change Resilience. Cham: Springer; 2019. p. 1-25. doi: 1007/978-3-319-71025-9_189-1.
  14. Saaty TL. Fundamentals of Decision Making and Priority Theory. Vol 6. Pittsburgh: RWS Publications; 2000.
  15. Zeng D, Zhu W. Discussion on problems of sewage irrigation and countermeasures in China. Agric Res Arid Areas. 2004;22(4):221-4.
  16. Keesstra SD, Geissen V, Mosse K, Piiranen S, Scudiero E, Leistra M, et al. Soil as a filter for groundwater quality. Curr Opin Environ Sustain. 2012;4(5):507-16. doi: 1016/j.cosust.2012.10.007.
  17. Meng W, Wang Z, Hu B, Wang Z, Li H, Goodman RC. Heavy metals in soil and plants after long-term sewage irrigation at Tianjin China: a case study assessment. Agric Water Manag. 2016;171:153-61. doi: 1016/j.agwat.2016.03.013.
  18. Hashem MS, Qi X. Treated wastewater irrigation—a review. Water. 2021;13(11):1527. doi: 3390/w13111527.
  19. Bolong N, Ismail AF, Salim MR, Matsuura T. A review of the effects of emerging contaminants in wastewater and options for their removal. Desalination. 2009;239(1-3):229-46. doi: 1016/j.desal.2008.03.020.
  20. Cizmas L, Sharma VK, Gray CM, McDonald TJ. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in waters: occurrence, toxicity, and risk. Environ Chem Lett. 2015;13(4):381-94. doi: 1007/s10311-015-0524-4.
  21. Biel-Maeso M, Corada-Fernández C, Lara-Martín PA. Monitoring the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in soils irrigated with reclaimed wastewater. Environ Pollut. 2018;235:312-21. doi: 1016/j.envpol.2017.12.085.
  22. Nazari E, Egdernezhad A, Jalilzadeh Yengejeh R. Monitoring of Khuzistan water resources quality for domestic, industrial and irrigation usage using IRWQISC and NSFWQI indices. J Res Environ Health. 2020;6(2):117-33. doi: 22038/jreh.2020.46257.1349.
  23. Sadegh Ali MR, Zare A, Pournouri M. Investigating and identifying the effects of rural wastewater in Dena protected area and presenting an environmental management pattern. Anthropog Pollut. 2021;5(1):49-61. doi: 22034/ap.2021.1914771.1084.
  24. Shahandeh N, Jalilzadeh Yengejeh R. Efficiency of SBR process with a six sequence aerobic-anaerobic cycle for phosphorus and organic material removal from municipal wastewater. Iran J Toxicol. 2018;12(2):27-32. doi: 29252/arakmu.12.2.27.
  25. Takdastan A, Kordestani B, Nisi A, Jalilzadeh Yengejeh R. Study of operational and maintenance problems and parameters of extended aeration activated sludge process in Golestan hospital wastewater treatment plant, Ahvaz, and their solutions. J Environ Health Eng. 2016;3(4):270-9. doi: 18869/acadpub.jehe.3.4.270.
  26. Wan L, Zhang MY, Lu S, Hu K. Study progress on effect of polluted water irrigation on soil and problem analysis. Ecol Environ Sci. 2015;24(5):906-10.
  27. Al Omron AM, El-Maghraby SE, Nadeem ME, El-Eter AM, Al-Mohani H. Long term effect of irrigation with the treated sewage effluent on some soil properties of Al-Hassa Governorate, Saudi Arabia. J Saudi Soc Agric Sci. 2012;11(1):15-8. doi: 1016/j.jssas.2011.04.004.
  28. Martínez-Cortijo J, Ruiz-Canales A. Effect of heavy metals on rice irrigated fields with waste water in high pH Mediterranean soils: the particular case of the Valencia area in Spain. Agric Water Manag. 2018;210:108-23. doi: 1016/j.agwat.2018.07.037.
  29. Jeong H, Kim H, Jang T. Irrigation water quality standards for indirect wastewater reuse in agriculture: a contribution toward sustainable wastewater reuse in South Korea. Water. 2016;8(4):169. doi: 3390/w8040169.
  30. Macki Aaleagha M, Salarian MB, Behbahaninia A. The use of multivariate statistical methods for the classification of groundwater quality: a case study of aqueducts in the east of Tehran, Iran. Anthropog Pollut. 2022;6(2):1-9. doi: 22034/ap.2022.1965587.1134.
  31. Roomiani L, Jalilzadeh Yengejeh R. Study the potential uptake of heavy metals by aquatic plants in Dez River. Iran J Ecohydrol. 2016;3(1):133-40. doi: 22059/ije.2016.59196.
  32. Azarm L, Javadzadeh N, Jalilzadeh R. Investigation of Chlorella vulgaris capacity in absorption of nitrate and phosphate from wastewater of fish farming pool in Khuzestan province. J Anim Environ. 2020;12(2):291-8.
Journal of Advances in Environmental Health Research
Volume 13, Issue 1
Winter 2025
Pages 26-34