Effluent disposal on soil as an sustainable alternative: a integrative review on its agricultural effects
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5902/2179460X85526Keywords:
Agriculture, Wastewater irrigation, Environmental impactsAbstract
The objective of this article was to evaluate the effect of wastewater disposal on soil based on scientific evidence. For this purpose, an integrative review was conducted in two databases using the cross-referenced terms “irrigation,” “wastewater,” “effluent,” “soil,” and “disposal.” To meet the eligibility criteria established in this study, the papers, in addition to having been published in the last three years, had to address the effects of effluent irrigation on agricultural crops and present original results. The vast majority of the texts evaluated showed an increase in various metals on soil after irrigation with effluents (some with previous treatment and others untreated). Nevertheless, when considering the availability of organic nutrients in the soil, it was possible to identify benefits for both fertility and agricultural productivity, including an increase in the yield of secondary agricultural products. The variation in the results of the studies evaluated is justified by the different effluent matrices and their characteristics, as well as by the agricultural culture in which they will be applied. In this way, the data obtained show that the reason for wastewater reuse is becoming increasingly relevant, and to prevent this from resulting in environmental damage or even risks to public health, it is necessary to consider the changes and effects pointed out in the physical environment.
Downloads
References
Ahmed, D. A. E., Slima, D. F., Al-Yasi, H. M., Hassan, L. M., & Galal, T. M. (2023). Risk assessment of trace metals in Solanum lycopersicum L. (tomato) grown under wastewater irrigation conditions. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 30, 42255–42266. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-25157-8
Ahmed, R. S., Abuarab, M. E., Ibrahim, M. M., Baioumy, M., & Mokhtar, A. (2023). Assessment of environmental and toxicity impacts and potential health hazards of heavy metals pollution of agricultural drainage adjacent to industrial zones in Egypt. Chemosphere, 318, 137872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.137872
Asadzadeh, M., Ghavam, M., & Mirzaei, R. (2023). The effect of irrigation with treated and untreated wastewater on the yield and chemical composition of essential oil of Mentha spicata L. and Rosmarinus officinalis L. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 30, 46175–46184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-25398-7
Carlos, F. S., Schaffer, N., Tedesco, M. J., Weinert, C., Reginato, J. L., de Sousa, R. O., Boechat, C. L., Andreazza, R., & Camargo, F. A. O. (2022). Chemical attributes of percolate from degraded sand soil irrigated with treated industrial wastewater. Environmental Quality Management, 31, 19–29. https://doi.org/10.1002/tqem.21749
Castor, C. P., Gastélum-Strozzi, A., Sammartino, S., Michel, E., Vicente, J., & Prado, B. (2023). Long-term (>90 years) wastewater irrigation effect on the pore characteristics and stability of soil aggregates. Geoderma, 434, 116469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2023.116469
Dolu, T., & Nas, B. (2023). Dissemination of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and metabolites from wastewater treatment plant to soils and agricultural crops via real-scale different agronomic practices. Environmental Research, 227, 115731. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.115731
Figueirêdo, L. P., Athayde, D. B., Daam, M. A., van Gestel, C. A. M., Guerra, G. S., Duarte-Neto, P. J., & Espíndola, E. L. G. (2020). Impact of temperature on the toxicity of Kraft 36 EC® (a.s. abamectin) and Score 250 EC® (a.s. difenoconazole) to soil organisms under realistic environmental exposure scenarios. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 194, 110446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.110446
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2020). The state of food and agriculture 2020: Overcoming water challenges in agriculture. FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb1447en
Giudici, P., Marco, M., & Olivera, N. L. (2023). Effects of the cessation of fish-processing effluent discharges on the soil microbiome associated with saltbush patches. Applied Soil Ecology, 187, 104832. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2023.104832
Gonçalo-Filho, F., Ferreira-Neto, M., Fernandes, C. S., Dias, N. S., Holanda, J. S., Barros-Júnior, A. P., Medeiros, J. F., & Sá, F. V. S. (2023). Domestic sewage effluent increases plant growth, yield, and fiber quality of cotton cv. BRS 335. Journal of Natural Fibers, 20(1), 2146914–2146926. https://doi.org/10.1080/15440478.2022.2146914
Haddad, M., Nassar, D., & Shtaya, M. (2023). Heavy metals accumulation in soil and uptake by barley (Hordeum vulgare) irrigated with contaminated water. Scientific Reports, 13, 4121. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18014-0
Haoyu, C., Bo, Y., Tao, Z., Bo, L., Chunxue, Z., & Xiaocheng, W. (2023). Rural mixed pond water irrigation affected microbial community and eco-enzymatic stoichiometry of soil profiles. Applied Soil Ecology, 188, 104863. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2023.104863
Kama, R., Liu, Y., Song, J., Hamani, A. K. M., Zhao, S., Li, S., Diatta, S., Yang, F., & Li, Z. (2023). Treated livestock wastewater irrigation is safe for maize (Zea mays) and soybean (Glycine max) intercropping system considering heavy metals migration in soil–plant system. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20, 3345. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043345
Karthika, T., Shalini, S., Kothai, P. S., & Arumugam, K. (2021). Impact of dyeing industry effluents on geotechnical properties of soil. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2070(1), 012233. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2070/1/012233
Khan, Z. I., Ahmad, K., Ahmad, T., Zafar, A., Alrefaei, A. F., Ashfaq, A., Akhtar, S., Mahpara, S., Mehmood, N., & Ugulu, I. (2023). Evaluation of nickel toxicity and potential health implications of agriculturally diversely irrigated wheat crop varieties. Arabian Journal of Chemistry, 16, 104934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2023.104934
Mendes, K. D. S., Silveira, R. C. C. P., & Galvão, C. M. (2019). Use of the bibliographic reference manager in the selection of primary studies in integrative reviews. Text & Context Nursing, 28. https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-265X-TCE-2017-0204
Mosa, A., Hawamdeh, O. A., Rady, M., & Taha, A. A. (2023). Ecotoxicological monitoring of potentially toxic elements contamination in Eucalyptus forest plantation subjected to long-term irrigation with recycled wastewater. Environmental Pollution, 329, 121739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121739
Nawaz, H., Anwar-ul-Haq, M., Akhtar, J., & Arfan, M. (2021). Cadmium, chromium, nickel and nitrate accumulation in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) using wastewater irrigation and health risks assessment. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 208, 111685. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.111685
Oliveira, M. P. de, Silva, A. B. S., Rigueto, C. V. T., Loss, R. A., Guedes, S. F., & Geraldi, C. A. (2023). Pesticides in different environmental compartments in Brazil: A review. Ciência e Natura, 45, e2. https://doi.org/10.5902/2179460X70715
United Nations. (2015). Agenda 2030 for sustainable development. https://brasil.un.org/pt-br/91863-agenda-2030-para-o-desenvolvimento-sustent%C3%A1vel
Oueslati, A., Dabbou, S., Methneni, N., Montevecchi, G., Nava, V., Rando, R., Bartolomeo, G., Antonelli, A., Di Bella, G., & Ben Mansour, H. (2023). Pomological and olive oil quality characteristics evaluation under short time irrigation of olive trees cv. Chemlali with untreated industrial poultry wastewater. Sustainability, 15(5), 4198. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054198
Rodrigues, T. V., Vasconcelos, A. M., Ferreira, D. D. M., Araujo, A. R. M., & van Bellen, H. M. (2020). Water use, reuse and treatment in the food industry: A theoretical study. Ciência e Natura, 42, e79. https://doi.org/10.5902/2179460X42099
Soltani-Gerdefaramarzi, S., Alemzadeh, A., Yarami, N., & Dehestani-Ardakani, M. (2023). The effects of irrigation methods and water quality on soil chemical properties and leaf nutrient uptake of Lavandula angustifolia L. in an arid region. Journal of Plant Growth Regulation, 42, 1256–1265. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-022-10627-z
Souza, M. F., Langaro, A. C., Passos, A. B. R. J., Lins, H. A., Silva, T. S., Mendonça, V., Silva, A. A., & Silva, D. V. (2020). Adsorption mechanisms of atrazine isolated and mixed with glyphosate formulations in soil. PLOS ONE, 15(11), e0242350. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242350
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Ciência e Natura
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
To access the DECLARATION AND TRANSFER OF COPYRIGHT AUTHOR’S DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT LICENSE click here.
Ethical Guidelines for Journal Publication
The Ciência e Natura journal is committed to ensuring ethics in publication and quality of articles.
Conformance to standards of ethical behavior is therefore expected of all parties involved: Authors, Editors, Reviewers, and the Publisher.
In particular,
Authors: Authors should present an objective discussion of the significance of research work as well as sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the experiments. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable. Review Articles should also be objective, comprehensive, and accurate accounts of the state of the art. The Authors should ensure that their work is entirely original works, and if the work and/or words of others have been used, this has been appropriately acknowledged. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. Authors should not submit articles describing essentially the same research to more than one journal. The corresponding Author should ensure that there is a full consensus of all Co-authors in approving the final version of the paper and its submission for publication.
Editors: Editors should evaluate manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their academic merit. An Editor must not use unpublished information in the editor's own research without the express written consent of the Author. Editors should take reasonable responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper.
Reviewers: Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should be conducted objectively, and observations should be formulated clearly with supporting arguments, so that Authors can use them for improving the paper. Any selected Reviewer who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the Editor and excuse himself from the review process. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
