Effect of Direct Disposal of Reverse Osmosis Concentrate on Soil Chemical Characteristics in Disposal Sites

Research areas:

• Volume 7,Issue 2, Mar. 2020

Year:

2020

Type of Publication:

Article

Keywords:

Reverse Osmosis, RO Concentrate, Soil Characteristics, Water Quality

Authors:

M. G. T. S. Amarasekara; W. S. Bandara; K. G. S. Nirmanee

Journal:

IJRIES

Volume:

7

Number:

2

Pages:

20-30

Month:

March

ISSN:

2394-1375

BibTex:

@article{201, author = "M.G.T.S. Amarasekara and W.S. Bandara and K.G.S. Nirmanee", abstract = "Providing potable water is one of the major concerns in Chronic Kidney Disease-affected areas in the North Central Province, Sri Lanka. Reverse Osmosis (RO) purified water is considered as one of the solutions in short term for this problem. This technique can effectively remove about 99% of dissolved salts from feed water. The removed salts from the feed water are disposed to the environment as RO reject water or RO concentrate. The volume of the concentrate of many RO plants is about 75% of the feed water volume. This RO rejected water is directly released to neighboring lands without any treatment. Direct disposal of RO concentrate to the soil may create long term environmental issues. Hence, this study was conducted to analyze the soil chemical characteristics of RO concentrate disposal sites and compare them with the soil characteristic of reference sites. Ten community-based RO plants were selected to collect soil samples. Reference soil samples were also collected from non-affected locations of the adjacent field for comparison. Both soil samples were analyzed using standard methods for chemical characteristics. Soil analysis revealed that disposal of RO concentrate has significantly enhanced (p", issn = "23941375", journal = "IJRIES", keywords = "Reverse Osmosis, RO Concentrate, Soil Characteristics, Water Quality", month = "March", number = "2", pages = "20-30", title = "{E}ffect of {D}irect {D}isposal of {R}everse {O}smosis {C}oncentrate on {S}oil {C}hemical {C}haracteristics in {D}isposal {S}ites", volume = "7", year = "2020", }

Abstract:

Providing potable water is one of the major concerns in Chronic Kidney Disease-affected areas in the North Central Province, Sri Lanka. Reverse Osmosis (RO) purified water is considered as one of the solutions in short term for this problem. This technique can effectively remove about 99% of dissolved salts from feed water. The removed salts from the feed water are disposed to the environment as RO reject water or RO concentrate. The volume of the concentrate of many RO plants is about 75% of the feed water volume. This RO rejected water is directly released to neighboring lands without any treatment. Direct disposal of RO concentrate to the soil may create long term environmental issues. Hence, this study was conducted to analyze the soil chemical characteristics of RO concentrate disposal sites and compare them with the soil characteristic of reference sites. Ten community-based RO plants were selected to collect soil samples. Reference soil samples were also collected from non-affected locations of the adjacent field for comparison. Both soil samples were analyzed using standard methods for chemical characteristics. Soil analysis revealed that disposal of RO concentrate has significantly enhanced (p

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