Quality of Ardabil Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent for Reuse in Agriculture

Wastewater reuse for irrigation is a common practice to overcome water shortage especially in countries with limited water resources. Wastewater reuse in the area studied is an important issue to overcome growing needs for water. At the time of this study the effluent of waste water treatment plant (WWTP) was discharged to river and reused by downstream farmers in an unplanned manner. There is need for formulating a particular management agenda to prevent public health concerns and pollution of soil, water, and agricultural products. In this study quality of Ardabil WWTP effluent has been reviewed for reuse in agriculture. In this descriptive cross-sectional study effluent sampling of the Ardabil WWTP was performed to determine quality parameters of effluent and comparing them with the standard values. Respective average values for COD, BOD5, cadmium, copper, and lead were 97.87, 57.25, 0.013, 0.08, and 0.67 mg/L that were in compliance with the standards set by Iran Environmental Protection Agency for wastewater reuse in agriculture. Total and fecal coliforms of the effluent were 7.3×106 and 2.3×104 per 100 mL that is not recommended for agricultural irrigation according to the relevant standard. Result obtained showed that apart from total and focal coliforms, there is no limitation for reuse of the effluent in agricultural irrigation. Disinfection and continuously monitoring of effluent and improvement of Ardebil WWTP is strongly recommended.