Denitrification Field Study at a Wastewater Land Application Site
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 2
Abstract
A few risks restrict the sustainable development of wastewater land application including potential nitrogen contamination to groundwater. One important component is nitrogen loss caused by denitrification in a nitrogen mass balance to control nitrogen leaching. Few field studies have been specifically conducted to investigate denitrification in wastewater land application systems. The objective of this study was to quantify denitrification at a wastewater land application site located in a semiarid area. The denitrification rate was measured within three soils at the City of Lubbock Land Application Site in three different months. One-way ANOVA and a t-test were used to compare the differences of averages of many groups of data and of two groups of data at the level, respectively. If ANOVA or the t-test is not applicable, the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance on ranks and the Mann-Whitney rank sum test were employed to compare the differences of medians of many groups of data and of two groups of data at the level, respectively. The denitrification rate in January was as high as 210 g , while soil moisture was 19.4%. The denitrification rate ranged from 0.5 to 2,229.2 g , which were the results of combined effects of environmental variables. Further and more detailed field investigation and quantification of denitrification are required in order for advanced nitrogen mass balance and sustainable nitrogen management at a wastewater land application site.
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Acknowledgments
The research was funded by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Texas Onsite Wastewater Treatment Research Council, Austin, Texas. We would like to show our sincere thanks to the staff of the City of Lubbock Land Application Site, Texas, and our students for their generous help and hard work. Also, we would like to thank Dr. Cary Green and Dr. Philip Pearson for their contribution to this project.
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Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 142 • Issue 2 • February 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 25, 2015
Accepted: Sep 16, 2015
Published online: Nov 2, 2015
Published in print: Feb 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Apr 2, 2016
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