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Phosphorus Balance in Sewage Effluent Treated Soils¹

ABSTRACT

Four field sites which have been irrigated with various levels of secondary treated sewage effluent for 9 to 11 years have been examined for phosphorus content in soil water extracted with suction lysimeters. The cornfield site on Hublersburg clay loam irrigated with effluent had an average P concentration of 0.329, 0.070, and 0.046 mg/liter in soil water at 15, 60, and 120 cm respectively compared to 0.043, 0.046, and 0.037 mg/liter, respectively, under an adjacent fertilized, but unirrigated control. Year round application of effluent including 2 years of effluent plus sludge to reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) on Hublersburg clay loam resulted in average soil water concentrations of 0.170, 0.100, and 0.052 mg P/liter at 15, 60, and 120 cm, respectively.

In an abandoned field on Hublersburg clay loam where no P was removed by crops, P concentrations were 0.140, 0.103, and 0.076 mg P/liter for the treated plot and 0.038, 0.047, and 0.042 mg P/liter for the control at 15, 60, and 120 cm, respectively. Only the 15-cm depth had significantly higher P concentrations in the treated plot. A hardwood forest located on a Morrison sandy loam soil was irrigated year round. Phosphorus concentrations in soil water were 0.349, 0.080, and 0.087 mg/liter for the treated vs. 0.059, 0.039, and 0.039 for the control at 15, 60, and 120 cm, respectively. Leaching losses were calculated from concentration of P in soil water at 120 cm and from leaching volume which was rainfall plus irrigation minus potential evapotranspiration. Over all years of treatment no site had leaching losses of > 3% of the total applied.

Key Words: recycling • phosphorus retention

¹ Contribution from the Pennsylvania State Univ. Agric. Exp. Sta. and Inst. for Res. on Land and Water Resour., The Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA 16802. Authorized for publication on 30 Apr. 1975 as Journal Series No. 4858.

² Professor of Soil Physics and Research Assistant, respectively, Dep. of Agronomy. The Pennsylvania State Univ.

Received for publication May 22, 1975.

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