Retooling Green Wastewater Treatment Infrastucture to Support Edible Crop Growth

改造绿色废水处理基础设施以支持食用作物生长

• 批准号: 1336199
• 负责人: Howard Weinberg
• 金额: $ 32.32万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-10-01 至 2018-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1336199&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Retooling; Green; Wastewater; Treatment; Infrastucture

CBET 1336199 Howard Weinberg The University of North Carolina at Chapel HillWith population growth and recurrent drought conditions in much of the United States and across the world, new uses for reclaimed wastewater must be considered to preserve freshwater quality. Terrestrial application of treated wastewater such as for crop irrigation could simultaneously protect drinking water source quality, by diverting treated waste effluents from sensitive aquatic ecosystems while reducing demand for drinking water. This project will optimize green infrastructure designs including aerobic vegetated sand filtration (VSF) in combination with subsurface flow (SSF) constructed wetlands for removal of chemicals of anthropogenic origin in wastewater and investigate the extent to which residual chemicals in the reclaimed water accumulate in the edible portions of crops irrigated with this type of water. The project will systematically evaluate how changes to the operation of VSF and SSF can optimize trace organic contaminant and pathogen removal to minimize measureable differences between crops irrigated with such reclaimed water and those irrigated with tap water. This will be achieved through two approaches; a laboratory column study that simulates the treatment designs will investigate the combination of different processes and filter substrates for this optimization using a characterized domestic effluent, and the treated water will then be used in a greenhouse to irrigate a variety of crops including potatoes, soybeans, and leafy vegetables selected because of differences in known properties of chemical uptake or rejection alongside controls conventionally grown with tap water. Specifically, we will determine whether crops irrigated with such waters reject the pollutants making them viable for consumption or if the crops uptake the pollutants and, if so, might they be used as an additional remediation tool for wastewater treatment. Changes to the operation of the green infrastructure design process determined from the laboratory study will then be transferred to full-scale operation and the viability of the optimized process towards crop growth evaluated onsite. The project will, therefore, demonstrate whether more widespread use of similar designs and the use of reclaimed water in this manner could be part of a managed approach to pollutant remediation and crop irrigation, thereby saving freshwater for more critical needs. The project will provide a better understanding of how vegetation and crops respond to the presence of wastewater constituents in their environment. Most wastewater treatment systems are not specifically designed to remove man-made chemicals from the influent waste and so by evaluating the fundamental treatment processes in a laboratory-controlled environment, design can be better optimized to improve treated water quality. Moreover, the project results will show whether wastewater constituents are taken up by the crops (in which case such a process has implications for a remediation technology) or whether the crops are resistant to uptake (in which case a more widespread use of recycled wastewater in crop irrigation can be considered). The use of green infrastructure design for the effective removal of wastewater contaminants at the site of their entry into wastewater has broader impacts on the disbursal of these contaminants throughout the wider environment as is typical in wastewater discharges from centralized wastewater treatment plants. Upgrading such plants to target individual contaminants and prevent their disbursal will likely prove expensive whereas with on-site treatment, cost can be staged and treatment more effectively targeted to individual pollutants. The project will also provide policymakers with valuable information to assist with determining safe operating practices and will help to improve public perception regarding the safe use of reclaimed water.

霍华德温伯格位于教堂山的北卡罗来纳州大学随着美国大部分地区和世界各地人口的增长和经常性的干旱条件，必须考虑再生废水的新用途，以保持淡水质量。在陆地上使用经处理的废水，如用于作物灌溉，可以同时保护饮用水源的质量，因为可以将经处理的废水从敏感的水生生态系统中转移出来，同时减少对饮用水的需求。该项目将优化绿色基础设施设计，包括好氧植被砂滤（VSF）结合潜流（SSF）人工湿地，以去除废水中人为来源的化学品，并调查再生水中残留化学品在用这种水灌溉的作物可食用部分中积累的程度。该项目将系统地评估VSF和SSF操作的变化如何优化痕量有机污染物和病原体的去除，以最大限度地减少用再生水灌溉的作物与用自来水灌溉的作物之间的可测量差异。这将通过两种办法来实现;模拟处理设计的实验室柱研究将研究不同工艺和过滤基质的组合，用于使用特征化的生活污水进行这种优化，然后将处理后的水用于温室中灌溉各种作物，包括马铃薯，大豆，和叶类蔬菜，因为已知的化学吸收或排斥特性的差异而被选择，与常规用自来水生长的对照相比。具体来说，我们将确定是否作物灌溉与这些沃茨拒绝污染物使他们可行的消费，或者如果作物吸收污染物，如果是这样的话，他们可能会被用作废水处理的额外补救工具。从实验室研究中确定的绿色基础设施设计过程的操作变化将转移到全面操作，并现场评估优化过程对作物生长的可行性。因此，该项目将证明，更广泛地使用类似的设计和以这种方式使用再生水是否可以成为污染物补救和作物灌溉的管理办法的一部分，从而节省淡水以满足更关键的需求。该项目将使人们更好地了解植被和作物如何对环境中存在的废水成分作出反应。大多数废水处理系统并不是专门设计用于从进水废物中去除人造化学品，因此通过在实验室控制的环境中评估基本处理过程，可以更好地优化设计，以提高处理后的水质。此外，项目结果将显示废水成分是否被作物吸收（在这种情况下，这种过程对补救技术有影响），或者作物是否对吸收有抵抗力（在这种情况下，可以考虑在作物灌溉中更广泛地使用回收的废水）。采用绿色基础设施设计，在废水污染物进入废水的地点有效地去除废水污染物，对这些污染物在整个更广泛的环境中的分布具有更广泛的影响，这在集中式废水处理厂的废水排放中是典型的。对这些工厂进行升级改造，以针对个别污染物并防止其扩散，可能会证明费用昂贵，而采用现场处理方法，成本可以分阶段计算，而且处理可以更有效地针对个别污染物。该项目还将为决策者提供有价值的信息，以协助确定安全的操作方法，并将有助于提高公众对安全使用再生水的认识。