In the past decades, treated wastewater has been widely used as irrigation water especially in (semi)arid areas, resulting in the contamination of soil and crops. Until now, few research has been conducted on how to reduce the potential crop health risks through agricultural management strategies. Here, we cultivated a variety of vegetables in the contaminated soil (~50 years of treated wastewater irrigation history) under different irrigation methods (sprinkler <i>versus</i> surface) and irrigation water quality (freshwater <i>versus</i> treated wastewater). Our results illustrated that the short-term transfer from treated wastewater to freshwater did not significantly change the heavy metal(loid) contents in both soil and vegetables, but sprinkler irrigation was more beneficial than surface irrigation in reducing the heavy metal(loid) contents in aboveground vegetable biomass. Simultaneously, we found total health risk index (HRI) of &gt; 5 for adults in three vegetables (e.g., spinach, Chinese lettuce, and Chinese chives), suggesting a high potential of severe health risks via ingestion. In contrast, total HRI was &lt; 1 for tomato, kidney bean, potato, and cabbage when ingested by either adults or children, indicating the insignificant potential health risks, despite severe soil pollution. Our study suggested sprinkler irrigation with freshwater or/and crop species selection as appropriate management strategies in reducing the adverse health effects of vegetables growing in agricultural farmlands contaminated by treated wastewater irrigation.

Combination of irrigation methods and vegetable variety selection can be used as a way to achieve the sustainable development of agriculture

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ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.