Ecological risk characterisation and modelling for the use of water treatment residuals as soil conditioners

水处理残留物(WTR)在世界各地大量产生，是使用铝和/或铁盐澄清饮用水的副产品。为了最大限度地减少废物、增加回收和发展更循环的经济，以及节省在目前的垃圾填埋场处置路线上花费的大量资金，有一项举措是将这些废物处理装置用于环境应用。它们已被确定为具有作为土壤改良剂的潜在用途，但在这一应用选择被广泛采用之前，必须解决一些不确定性。该项目将解决WTR应用于土地对蚯蚓丰度、多样性和生存的影响或影响的不确定性。它还将研究污水处理厂应用对土壤孔隙水化学(即评估污水处理厂元素的淋溶)和土壤微生物功能(即土壤呼吸速率)的影响。该项目将与项目CASE合作伙伴4R一起，综合使用全尺度实地试验、半实地尺度中观系统和实验室实验来解决这些不确定性。

Water treatment residuals (WTRs) are generated in vast quantities all over the world as a by-product of drinking water clarification using aluminium and/or iron salts. In the interests of minimising waste, increasing recycling and developing a more circular economy, plus saving large sums of money spent on the current disposal route of landfill, there is a move to utilise these WTRs in environmental applications. They have been identified as having potential uses as soil amendments, but there are uncertainties that must be addressed before this application option can be widely adopted. This project will address the uncertainties surrounding the effects or impacts on earthworm abundance, diversity and survival from WTR application to land. It will also examine the influence on soil porewater chemistry (i.e. assessing leaching of elements from WTRs) and on soil microbial function (i.e. soil respiration rate) of WTR application. Together with project CASE partner 4R, the project will use a combination of full scale field trials, semi-field scale mesocosms and laboratory experiments to address these uncertainties.