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TECHNICAL REPORTS
Heavy Metals in the Environment

Trace Metal Leaching through a Soil–Grassland System after Sewage Sludge Application

^a Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), ENAC-ISTE-LPE, Ecublens, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
^b Agriculture and Environment Division, IACR-Rothamsted, Harpenden, Herts AL5 2JQ, UK

* Corresponding author (catherine.keller{at}epfl.ch)

Received for publication July 5, 2001. To determine whether sludge applications to soil would lead in the short term to toxicity to plants and trace metal leaching to ground water, we studied the fate of some trace and major elements in a brown soil–meadow system just after repeated sewage sludge applications. The main pathways were quantified over a 37-mo period with undisturbed monolith lysimeters including two controls, four lysimeters treated with 3 x 100 m³ ha^-1, and four with 3 x 400 m³ ha^-1 of sewage sludge. In drainage waters the effect was limited in time and, in the case of NO₃–N and Cl, delayed by 1 to 4 mo and lasted several months before returning to background conditions. Nickel and Cu concentrations in solution increased also after sludge application and had not return to background conditions after 20 mo. Trace metal concentrations did not reach toxic levels in herbage and N, Cu, Cd, and Zn concentrations were correlated with the first sludge input only. Calculated over a 37-mo period, total element output was significantly increased for Ca, NO₃–N, and Ni only, because of the time-dependent response to sludge application and high variability between replicates. Output was maximal for Cd, with 1.5% of total input for the 100 m³ ha^-1 treatment. Particulate matter in drainage water accounted for an average of 20% of trace metal leaching. The main long-term risk was the rapid increase in trace metal concentrations in the topsoil, which may eventually lead to toxic levels in herbage.

Abbreviations: DOC, dissolved organic carbon

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