BENEFICIAL REUSE OF RESIDUALS AND RECLAIMED WATER: IMPACT ON SOIL ECOSYSTEM AND HUMAN HEALTH (FORMERLY W2170)

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: TERMINATED
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1014459
• Project No.: WYO-586-17
• Multistate No.: W-3170
• Project Start Date: Oct 25, 2017
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2019

Project Director
Norton, UR.

Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING
1000 E UNIVERSITY AVE DEPARTMENT 3434
LARAMIE,WY 82071-2000

Performing Department
Plant Sciences

Non Technical Summary
The Laramie area generates significant amounts of food waste that ends up in the local landfill. Because of the cold and dry climate, the volume of food waste does not break down and instead, adds to the overall build up of an already large landfill. Efforts to reduce the amounts and reuse composted material will greatly improve soil fertility and soil health. Better understanding of the efficient composting and nutrient concentrations of the ready to apply soil amendment will encourage the local community to compost. A series of analytical tests measuring nutrient status and heavy metal concentration will be deployed at the ACRES student farm and local landfill where the community drops off green waste as well as urban gardenplots. Eventually, greater community awareness and active programs of composting should help drastically reduce organic waste.

Animal Health Component

0%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

20%

Applied

60%

Developmental

20%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
102	1499	1000	100%

Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships;

Subject Of Investigation
1499 - Vegetables, general/other;

Field Of Science
1000 - Biochemistry and biophysics;

Keywords

compost

food waste

soil fertility

Goals / Objectives
Evaluate the short- and long-term chemistry and bioavailability of nutrients, potentially toxic inorganic trace elements, and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (TOrCs) in residuals, reclaimed water, and amended soils in order to assess the environmental and health risk-based effects of their application at a watershed scale. Specific tasks: (i) To develop and evaluate in vitro (including chemical speciation) and novel in vivo methods to correlate human and ecological health responses with risk-based bioavailability of trace elements and TOrCs in residuals and residual-treated soils. (ii) Predict the long-term bioavailability and toxicity of trace elements and TOrCs in residual-amended urban, agricultural and contaminated soils. (iii) Evaluate long-term effects of residuals application and reclaimed wastewater irrigation on fate and transport of nutrients, trace elements, TOrCs, and emergence/spread of antibiotic resistance in high application rate systems. (iv) Evaluate plant uptake and ecological effects of potentially toxic trace elements and TOrCs from soils amended with residuals and reclaimed wastewater. Evaluate the uses and associated agronomic and environmental benefits for residuals in agricultural and urban systems. Specific tasks: (i) Evaluate the ability of in situ treatment of contaminated soil with residuals to reduce chemical contaminant bioavailability and toxicity. (ii) Determine the climate change impacts of organic residuals end use options (i.e., C sequestration, N2O emissions). (iii) Quantify sustainability impacts such as water quality (reduced N impairment) and quantity benefits (increased plant available water, increased drought tolerance) and soil quality improvements associated with a range of organic residuals end uses. (iv) Explore the potential for waste by-products to be used in urban areas including urban agriculture, stormwater infrastructure, green roofs, and in urban green space. (v)Evaluate ecosystem services of degraded urban soils amended with residuals. (vi) Use tools such as life cycle assessment to understand and compare the impacts of a range of residuals end use/disposal options.

Project Methods
Methods identified in the multistate project description W3170 will be followed.

Progress 10/25/17 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience included urban small scale gardeners, local specialty crops producers and general audiences associated with the Department of Plant Sciences on and off campus. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project allowed for an increase of overall awareness of the importance of soil testing for heavy metal content in many urban settings where a general push to construct urban gardens often ignores potential health hazards. Training opportunities concentrated on new skill development and training by graduate, undergraduate students and faculty members. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A series of posters were presented at both, local, regional and international conferences. In addition, a series of surveys of local gardeners were carried out followed by soil sampling and analyses. Results of the tests will be disseminated shortly with a concise write up of conclusions. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? A series of house gardens and locations within the vicinity of the industrial site have been sampled, characterized and analyzed for heavy metal contamination (both total and bioavailable). Following, a subset of locations was identified as "of concern" and included in a lab incubations followed by a greenhouse study. Soils were enriched with a variety of organic amendments and incubated for a period of two months at 25% soil water content and 21 degrees celsius. Final analysis of soil inorganic N post incubation was used to adjust plant available N to levels comparable with an equivalent of availlable N in a recommended rate of Miracle Grow (using urea). Two kinds of vegetables were planted to assess the bioavailability of heavy metals to edible crops: root vegetable (daikon radish) and leafy (lettuce). Soil and plant analyses are still in progress.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Improving dryland organic winter wheat performance by the inclusion of composted cattle manure and cover crops in the fallow
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Cover crop mixtures and organic amendments in high altitude/low moisture agriculture
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Heavy metals in Laramie Soils and the Effect of Organic Amendments on Plant Bioavailability

Progress 10/25/17 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Audience reached includes local biochar producer and his clients, public attending Agriculture Experiment Station Field Days, farm interns. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project trained one undergradaute intern and four graduate students in establishing the experiment,data collection, analysis and interpretation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?PI continues to remain in touch with the local biochar producer. More interaction will take place during the upcoming conference schedule for the end of February. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Three experiments (lab/greenhouse/field) will be initiated in spring 2019 with the intention of data collection and analyses through the fall semester. All sites are now mappedand soil sampling will start as soon as the soil thaws.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Drafting a protocol for extracting potentially toxic inorganic trace elements and petroleum-derived organic compounds for the large scale assessment of the urban alkaline soilshistoricallyexposed to potential contamination and now in need of conversion to food producing hubs. Mapping and GPS-ing location suitable for the monitoring, soil sampling and greenhouse bioavailability assays. Objective 2: Evaluated the potential use of biochar in combination with cover crops as potentialtools for remediation.

Publications