Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Assist. Professor, Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Department, Markazi Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Arak, Iran
Abstract
Nowadays, the problem of water scarcity and wastewater treatment and reuse has made the proper crop cultivation pattern and irrigation method as the most important alternative in developing water resources management and could play a crucial role in meeting the water scarcity issues. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of wastewater from Arak city wastewater treatment plant in order to use in agriculture and to determine the pattern of cultivation and appropriate irrigation method using AHP process. Development of model had two sub-models. The purpose of the first model was to determine optimal crop pattern at the irrigation network level and the purpose of the second model was to select the most appropriate method for irrigation using wastewater. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, wastewater sampling of the Arak wastewater treatment plant was conducted to determine the quality parameters of effluent and comparing them with the standard values. The mean COD, BOD5 and DO parameters were 49.65, 23.26 and 1.93 mg/l respectively; the mean concentration of cadmium, copper, and lead was 0.0564, 0.08, and 0.0512 mg/l, which compliance with the standards set by Iran Environmental Protection Agency for wastewater reuse in agriculture. Total and fecal coliforms of the effluent were 877.882 and 379.558 per 100 ml. The mean number of parasite eggs was 0.52 per liter; hence, it is not recommended for agricultural irrigation. Therefore, the most limiting factor for determining the cultivation pattern is water and soil electrical conductivity followed by water cost, for which the highest Result showed that apart from total and focal coliforms, there is no limitation for re-use of the effluent in agricultural irrigation. In addition, the most limiting factor was determining the pattern of cultivation, the electrical conductivity of water and soil, followed by the cost of water, which had the highest relative weight percentage. In selecting the best irrigation systems, drip irrigation systems, surface and subsurface drip had the highest relative weight, respectively.
Keywords
Main Subjects
)