Hydraulic conductivity response of soils to synthetic laundry greywater

Sankowsky, Brendan (2009) Hydraulic conductivity response of soils to synthetic laundry greywater. [USQ Project]

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Abstract

Laundry greywater is an important water resource that may be used for irrigation of residential lawns and gardens. The extent of reuse of this resource is dependent on
the hydraulic properties of soil. This project was undertaken with the aim to experimentally determine the extent to which soil properties and the properties of
laundry greywater (e.g. pH, EC and ion composition) influence saturated hydraulic conductivity using three soil types sourced from Toowoomba, Bundaberg and Surat regions of Queensland, and synthetic greywater made from powder and liquid laundry detergents (PLD and LLD).
To determine how hydraulic conductivity of these soils is affected when exposed to laundry greywater, simultaneous comparison was made using tap water (TW). For all experimental work, three replicated soil cores of the three types of soils were exposed to three types of water (TW, PLD and LLD). Additional measurements included evaluation of suspended colloids and ions in the leachate collected during hydraulic conductivity measurements.
Results show that hydraulic conductivity of all soils relating to this experiment are lowered substantially. Results show that hydraulic conductivity is lowered
substantially when the soil cores are irrigated with either of the two laundry detergents, particularly with the powder laundry detergent. A reduction in hydraulic conductivity of up to 98% resulted from the irrigation of soil cores with the synthetic greywater. The threat of contamination of groundwater is reduced due to the filtering and purification of the greywater during drainage. This process removed harmful salts and sodium from the irrigation water. However these will accumulate with sustained irrigation and lead to poor soil quality due to dispersion and salinity. Direct reuse of synthetic laundry greywater is not sustainable on these types of soils


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Item Type: USQ Project
Refereed: No
Item Status: Live Archive
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: Historic - Faculty of Engineering and Surveying - Department of Agricultural, Civil and Environmental Engineering (Up to 30 Jun 2013)
Date Deposited: 20 Jul 2010 04:08
Last Modified: 21 Jul 2010 04:59
Uncontrolled Keywords: greywater; soil quality; hydraulic conductivity; detergents
Fields of Research (2008): 09 Engineering > 0907 Environmental Engineering > 090702 Environmental Engineering Modelling
05 Environmental Sciences > 0503 Soil Sciences > 050305 Soil Physics
Fields of Research (2020): 40 ENGINEERING > 4011 Environmental engineering > 401199 Environmental engineering not elsewhere classified
41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4106 Soil sciences > 410605 Soil physics
URI: https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/8461

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