MENAWARA unveils research on use of treated wastewater for irrigation in Palestine during the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union
Last April 28th, within the General Assembly 2021 of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), Giovanna Dragonetti from CIHEAM Bari (Italy) discussed “Resizing irrigation management for Treated Wastewater quality with a physically-based model to preserve soil quality: A case study in Beit Dajan-Palestine”, a research conducted in the framework of MENAWARA ENI CBC Med project.
The EGU General Assembly brought together geoscientists from all over the world to one meeting covering all disciplines of the Earth, and aimed to provide a forum where scientists, especially early career researchers, can present their work and discuss their ideas with experts in all fields of geoscience.
The research developed by Giovanna Dragonetti with the other colleagues of CIEHAM Nabeeh Isleem and Roula Khadra, underlines the importance of careful management of treated wastewater for irrigation, due to the high salts content that can affect soil health and impact the environment. Indeed, the aim is to propose an alternative treated wastewater irrigation management based on both water requirements and allowable thresholds of soil solution electrical conductivity (ECe).
The results suggest that aligning the classical irrigation practices to treated waste water reuse by considering ECe as an additional variable is appropriate, allows to curb soil salinity, and ensures root water uptake of citrus, although the water has high salinity levels that may jeopardize plant response after a sequence of irrigation events.