TITLE:
Changes in Total Dissolved Solids Concentration during Infiltration through Soils (Rain, Fresh Groundwater and Treated Wastewater)
AUTHORS:
Alsharifa Hind Mohammad, Ghaidaa Abdullat, Khitam Alzughoul
KEYWORDS:
Salinity, Infiltration, Suction Cups, Total Dissolved Solids
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.8 No.1,
January
16,
2017
ABSTRACT: Water
quality deterioration took place during infiltration process. Quality of the
source water, climate conditions and amounts of added water are the major role
players of the differentiation measures. Treated wastewater, rainwater and fresh groundwater were described within this
study. It was found that the rainwater has an aggressive behavior with a
high ability to dissolve soil salts. The amounts of Total Dissolved Solids
(TDS) increase with infiltration process. Electrical conductivity (EC)
increased by 600%. Plotting the fresh groundwater to the same conditions and
experiment reflects the ability of this water to dissolve soil salts and
increases the
TDS by increasing the EC by a percentage of around 200%; while applying lower
quality of water, the percentage of the EC of the treated wastewater increases
to about 230% for the depth of 20 cm, which indicates the accumulation of the salts
within this part of the soil, which leads to the deterioration of the soil
quality, and decreases to about 160% for a depth of 60 cm. This
differentiation could be a
result of low permeability soils which tend to accumulate salts as a result of
evaporation and then increase the salinity in the topsoil. Dissolution and plant uptake
in the infiltrated take of minerals save the soil’s water from evaporation and
do not allow salts to concentrate in soils. Moreover, plant uptake of soil
water chemicals causes a decrease in some salt concentrations such as NO3,
PO4, K, Na, and Cl and may conserve others.