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Potential use of treated wastewater and sludge in the agricultural sector of the Gaza Strip

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Abstract

Twelve elements (Ag, Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) were analyzed in 120 composite samples of influent and effluent wastewater; the results revealed that domestic wastewater influent contains considerable amounts of heavy metals and the partially functional treatment plants of Gaza are able to remove 40–70% of most metals during the treatment process. Heavy metals in 31 industrial wastewater effluents are within the ranges of international standards. All industries of Gaza are light; although they have no treatment facilities, their effluents are being discharged to municipal sewerage system and the existing treatment plants are capable of absorbing the industrial effluents with no significant impact on treatment bioprocesses.

Thirty parameters were determined in 35 sludge samples: P, AOX, C, S, CaCO3, Mg, Ca, Na, K, Li, Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb, Mn, Fe, Cr, Co, Cd, As, Hg, Ti, Se, Br, Rb, Th, Sr, Y, U, and Zr. Although there are no treatment facilities for sludge within the treatment plants, the results indicated that sludge in general is clean of heavy metals. Only Zinc and AOX showed anomalous concentrations; more than 85% of sludge samples showed that averages of zinc and AOX are 2,000 mg/kg and 550 mg Cl/kg, respectively, which exceed the standards of all industrial countries for sludge to be used in land application.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung-BMBF, Germany through a project called Monitoring of Groundwater and soil pollution levels in Gaza Strip. The authors would like to acknowledge Prof. Dr. W. Shotyk for his critical reading and comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental Geochemistry, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 236, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    B. H. Shomar, G. Müller & A. Yahya

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  1. B. H. Shomar
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  2. G. Müller
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  3. A. Yahya
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Correspondence to B. H. Shomar.

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Shomar, B.H., Müller, G. & Yahya, A. Potential use of treated wastewater and sludge in the agricultural sector of the Gaza Strip. Clean Techn Environ Policy 6, 128–137 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-003-0228-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-003-0228-5

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