Over 90% of the water supplied in the coastal region in Israel in 2013 (600 Mm3 y−1) will be from desalination plants. The wastewater generated from this water (>400 Mm3 y−1) is planned, after proper treatment, to be reused for agricultural irrigation, making this low-salinity water the main agricultural-sector future water source. In this respect both the Mg2 + concentration and the Sodium Adsorption Ratio value of the water are of concern. We show that the typical Na+ concentration addition to wastewater (between ∼100 and ∼165 mg L−1) is much higher than the combined addition of Ca2 + and Mg2 + (between 0 and several mg L−1). Since desalinated water is typically supplied with low Ca2 + and Mg2 + concentrations (∼35 and 0 mg L−1 respectively), the treated wastewater is characterized by very low Mg2 + concentrations, low salinity and very high SAR values, typically >6 and up to 10 (meq L−1)0.5. SAR values can be lowered by adding either Ca2 + or Mg2 + to desalinated water. Adding Mg2 + is preferable from both health (minimizing cardiovascular disease hazards) and agriculture (inexpensive Mg fertilization) aspects. The low cost of Mg2 + addition at the post-treatment stage of desalination plants corroborates the request for Mg2 + addition in regions where treated wastewater from desalinated water origin is planned to be reused for irrigation.
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Research Article|
May 01 2010
Potential drawbacks associated with agricultural irrigation with treated wastewaters from desalinated water origin and possible remedies
Ori Lahav;
1Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel E-mail: agori@tx.technion.ac.il
E-mail: agori@tx.technion.ac.il
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Malka Kochva;
Malka Kochva
1Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel E-mail: agori@tx.technion.ac.il
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Jorge Tarchitzky
Jorge Tarchitzky
2The Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel E-mail: tarchitz@agri.huji.ac.il
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Water Sci Technol (2010) 61 (10): 2451–2460.
Citation
Ori Lahav, Malka Kochva, Jorge Tarchitzky; Potential drawbacks associated with agricultural irrigation with treated wastewaters from desalinated water origin and possible remedies. Water Sci Technol 1 May 2010; 61 (10): 2451–2460. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2010.157
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