Impacts of Long-Term Irrigation of Domestic Treated Wastewater on Soil Biogeochemistry and Bacterial Community Structure.

ABSTRACT: Freshwater scarcity and regulations on wastewater disposal have necessitated the reuse of treated wastewater (TWW) for soil irrigation, which has several environmental and economic benefits. However, TWW irrigation can cause nutrient loading to the receiving environments. We assessed bacterial community structure and associated biogeochemical changes in soil plots irrigated with nitrate-rich TWW (referred to as pivots) for periods ranging from 13 to 30 years. Soil cores (0 to 40 cm) were collected in summer and winter from five irrigated pivots and three adjacently located nonirrigated plots. Total bacterial and denitrifier gene abundances were estimated by quantitative PCR (qPCR), and community structure was assessed by 454 massively parallel tag sequencing (MPTS) of small-subunit (SSU) r

SUBMITTER: Wafula D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4579453 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature