Soil as a complementary treatment component for simultaneous wastewater disposal and reuse

Field experiments were conducted to verify the hypothesis that soil performs as a complementary biofilter for secondary domestic treated wastewater disposal. The soil surrounding a subsurface point source functions as a biofilter for effluent used in agricultural irrigation. This hypothesis was examined in an outdoor experiment in which poliovirus was injected into the subsurface drip irrigation system. According the results, high virus concentration in applied effluent resulted in a very limited penetration into tomato plants via the roots. However, no viruses were detected in the leaves and the fruits. Copyright (C) 1996 IAWQ. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.