Characterizing municipal wastewater sludge for sustainable beneficial agricultural use

Abstract

World human population growth in general is expec ted to place significant new demands on already strained renewable and non-renew able natural resources, thereby causing environmental degradation, while reinforcing social inequity and poverty. Hence, the United Nations (UN) developed an agenda of ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ to assist with attending to these challenges, of which waste recycling forms the core to achieving more than half of them. Recycling of wastewater sludge in agricultural lands serves as a source of water (liquid sludge) and crop nutrients (both solid and liquid sludge), thus playing a crucial role in reducing the pressure on fresh water bodies (liquid sludge) and lowering greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer production. Wastewater sludge is a mixture of materials of biological and non-biological origin with varying levels of toxic effects on the environment. Therefore, for sustainable use of these resources, suitability characterization should be set for their use in agricultural lands, and for the rate at which sludge should be applied.

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