Improving the Water Productivity by Using Clean Household Wastewater and Technical Management of the Field in Hyper-Arid Regions (Case Study: Zabol City)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Moien Jahantigh ¹
• Mansour Jahantigh ²

¹ Department of Soil Conservation and Water Management, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Zabol, Iran.

² Department of Soil Conservation and Water Management, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Zabol, Iran. E-mail

Abstract

Keywords

• Barley
• Clean wastewater
• Drought
• Sistan

Main Subjects

• ..

Introduction

Currently, water scarcity due to severe drought and mismanagement is a prominent challenge in arid regions. The alarming consequences of this phenomenon include water quality deterioration, soil fertility decline, and subsidence, which threaten sustainable development goals. Hence to mitigate the water scarcity threats, it is essential to manage water consumption in agricultural production. Implementing technical management strategies for farming conditions is a powerful approach to significantly reducing consumption in the agricultural sector. Beside that, recycling clean household wastewater is a practical approach to managing water consumption and dealing with the water scarcity crisis to adapt to drought conditions in arid regions. The Sistan region is one of the country's semi-arid regions, which is facing numerous challenges in managing water and soil resources, due to recent droughts and the negative impacts of climate change. To address these issues, it is essential to integrate management strategies for water and soil resources. Therefore, this research aims to present an integrated approach to water consumption management by introducing an alternative water source to supply plant water demand using clean household wastewater, as well as technical management of field conditions for agricultural crop production in the Sistan region.

Materials and Methods

This research was conducted at the Sistan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, located in the north of Sistan and Baluchestan province and Zabol city, with geographical coordinates of 61° 29 ' 12 " to 61 ° 29 ' 13 " and 31 ° 1 ' 14 " to 31 ° 1 ' 15 " north latitude, at an altitude of 480 meters above sea level. The 120-day Sistan winds are one of the most important climatic indicators of this region, which starts in mid-June and continues until early October.The soil texuture in this area is heavy and has poor drainage due to sediments deposited by the Helmand River from the highlands of Afghanistan. Additionally, the soil has high salinity. This study was conducted with treatments of soil texture type (Loamy-clay-silty, loam and sandy-loamy), organic fertilizer (cow and sheep manure), and type of water consumption (Domestic wastewater, Potable water) in a completely randomized design with 12 treatments and three replications. To calculate the water consumption efficiency, was water productivity index (WP) was used. In each treatment, the amount of water consumption was measured during the study period. Growth characteristics of plant, such as height, fresh weight, and Yield (ton/ha) were measured during the growth period of plants too.

Results and Discussion

Based on the results, the volume of water consumed in the treatments was different, and the highest and lowest water consumption was measured to be 245 and 155 liters, respectively. By analyzing the data, the findings showed that the effects of soil texture, fertilizer type at the 1% level, and the interaction effect of soil and fertilizer at the 5% level on irrigation frequency and soil moisture content were significant (p ≤ 0.05). In contrast, the type of water consumption did not show a significant difference. In this context, the properties of soil, such as structure and its constituent particles, play a significant role in soil porosity and, consequently, water storage capacity in the soil. Moreover, utilizing animal manure due to increases the soil moisture absorption, significantly reducing water consumption. So, result shows that varition of soil moisture among the treatment are significantly difference (p ≤ 0.05). So that, using cow manure (14.6%) increased the soil moisture content by 15.7 % more than using sheep manure (12.3%). Investigation of the growth characteristics of barley showed that the plant height, fresh and dry weight of the plant were affected by soil texture type and animal manure at the 1% level too (p ≤ 0.01). Accordingly, this issue manifested that farm management by improving the soil texture and soil fertilizer leads to increase the water use efficiency and plant growth performance.

Conclusion

In this study, we implemented an integrated approach for water consumption efficiency by recycling the Domestic wastewater and farm management for producing the barley crop in the Sistan region. Results showed that the effect of managing field conditions (soil texture type and manure) had a significant effect on soil moisture content, plant growth indices, and water use efficiency. In addition, using clean household wastewater is a sustainable water source for agricultural production in arid areas. Overall, due to many challenges in the agricultural sector of the Sistan region, implementation of this strategy provides a suitable baseline for expanding the area under cultivation of agricultural products and, as well, restoring vegetation and protecting soil in abandoned agricultural lands in this region.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Authorship contribution

All authors contributed equally to the conceptualization of the article and writing of the original and subsequent drafts.

Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process

During the preparation of this work, the author(s) did not use artificial intelligence tools.

Data availability statement

Data available on request from the authors.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the reviewers and editor for their critical comments that helped to improve the paper. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support and facilities provided by the Department of Hydrology and Water Resour, Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Institute, Organization (AREEO), Iran.

Ethical considerations

The Authors avoid falsifying data, plagiarism and misconduct.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.