Perspectives of wastewater irrigation in the Shijiazhuang area

To utilize wastewater as a water resource and to ensure the sustaining development of wastewater irrigation districts, we studied the key factors of water quality related to wastewater irrigation practices, using the wastewater irrigation district in Shijiazhuang as a pilot studying area. Based on current irrigation areas with wastewater and clean water, we evaluated the accumulative concentrations of heavy metals, petroleum, and other chemicals in soils and crops under various situations and the corresponding usage of wastewater and clean water. According to the water quality criteria of farmland irrigation and the national soil environment quality criteria in China, we analyzed and predicted water quality and quantity under different wastewater treatment situations and irrigation practices in the next 30 years, using the environment capacity method. This study provided useful information for wastewater treatment requirements, wastewater irrigation system designs with different crops and combined areas, irrigation methods, and wastewater irrigation managements.