Abstract
Land treatment is increasingly being utilized as a method of waste disposal for both sewage effluent and sludges. While there has been considerable attention directed toward the fate of metallic constituents of sewage sludges, there is little information on the fate and mobility of metals applied to soils in sewage effluent. This study was undertaken utilizing secondary treated sewage effluent amended to contain slightly less than 1 mg l−1 each of Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn. The effluent was applied weekly for a period of one year on large undisturbed monoliths of four diverse soils enclosed in lysimeters. Leachate water and periodic soil samples were collected to evaluate the mobility of the metals. Soil samples collected after one year of effluent revealed that increases in the concentration of metals were greatest at the surface and decreased sharply with depth so that in most cases increases below 25 cm were insignificant. The depth of movement appeared to be independent of the soil characteristics, despite the range of clay content and cation exchange capacity (CEC). Mobility evaluated from the percent of that applied remained in the surface 0 to 2.5 cm was as follows Cd > Zn = Ni = Pb > Cu. The movement of metals was sufficiently slow, however, so that the leachate water collected at 1.5 m below the surface remained free of the applied metals throughout the study.
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Contribution of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station and the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. Grant No. DADA17-73-C-3102.
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Brown, K.W., Thomas, J.C. & Slowey, J.F. The movement of metals applied to soils in sewage effluent. Water Air Soil Pollut 19, 43–54 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00176794
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00176794