Purified wastewater: the future of field irrigation
The exploitation of purified waste water is a possible valid solution to the lack of water in agriculture.
New discovery on the use of purified wastewater . They could provide a solution to the problem of water scarcity in agriculture. A study coordinated by Enea together with the Hera group and the University of Bologna certifies this. The purified wastewater could also represent a utility for fertilization . This is because they have nourishing properties for plants that are absent in river or groundwater.
According to the research, 70% of the water needs in the Romagna agricultural sector could be obtained from water purification. Drought is not the only one responsible. Phenomena such as the saline wedge , or rather the salt water that advances in the bed of rivers and strata, are also phenomena. In fact, the water available for the fields is still decreasing. Well, science tries to help agriculture.
The aim of the study was to save on water and fertilizers . So the idea was to use purified wastewater through the circular economy . All to remedy the lack of water for irrigation. Here, fields of tomatoes and peach cultivations have been watered for two years by the Hera treatment plant in Cesena. All coordinated by an intelligent control and automation unit. By “intelligent” we mean a technological tool to manage and optimize the reuse of the waters in question.
All based on quality, water and nutrition needs of crops. Thanks to the purified waste water, there is a saving of 32% of nitrogen and 8% of phosphorus in the cultivation of peach trees. This is for the reason that these waters contain nutrients useful for plants. The experiment finally reported the disappearance of the bacterium Escherichia Coli in crops. In the future, therefore, a turning point is expected in the agricultural sector with the presence of a circular economy.
- Purified wastewater may be the future of field irrigation. This was stated by a study by Aeneas, Hera and the University of Bologna (ohga.it)