Impact of terrestrial sewage sludge disposal on dissolved and particulate phosphorus in surface runoff

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of land application of sewage sludge on phosphorus (P) losses during intense rainfall. Three rainfall simulations (40 mm h(-1) of 30 min duration) were conducted on a field amended with sewage sludge. The overland flow water (OFW) was monitored and sampled every minute. The suspended solid, the dissolved and total phosphorus (respectively SS, TP and DP) concentrations were analysed. The forms of particulate bound P (PP) were investigated. Several results stem from this experiment: (a) sludge application induced a large increase in the DP content of the OFW; the concentrations obtained (0.15-0.57 mg l(-1)) were shown to result from desorption processes from the SS; and (b) in contrast, sludge application affected neither the SS content nor the TP concentration of OFW (9.5 g mg l(-1) P, consisting of PP for 95%). However, sludge preserved the structure of soil surface and led to a 45% decrease in runoff rate (150 m(3) ha(-1) collected on the test surface compared to 290 m(3) ha(-1) on a reference). This indirectly reduced TP losses (2.7 kg ha(-1) on the reference surface compared to 1.4 kg ha(-1) on the test surface).