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Water reclaimed for irrigation from the Castellon wastewater treatment plant

4 June, 2050

Water reclaimed for irrigation from the Castellón wastewater treatment plant

Waste water source

The reclaimed water originates from the Castellón wastewater treatment plant. There are some problems with high salinity (3 g/l) and boron toxicity in the effluent. The water is therefore mixed with surface water for agricultural application.

Distribution System

The reclaimed water is mixed with surface water in a water pool close to the wastewater treatment plant. Then it is transported by an irrigation network to the local stations where nutrients are added according to the set recipes. A fertigation network distributes the nutrient solution to the fields.

Farming system

The irrigated fields are mostly citrus trees. The irrigation community   commonly applies fertigation.

Waste water treatment description

Nutrient removal : Conventional wwtp techniques (activated sludge...)
Pesticide removal : none
Disinfection : UV disinfection
Suspended solids removal :  In primary treatment physical sieves are used, later chemical coagulation and filtration
Other :

Capacity

The wastewater treatment plant’s production corresponds to 40,000 m³/day. The irrigation community uses 10,000 m³/day on average.

Extent of the agricultural beneficiaries

2,000 hectares are irrigated with the reclaimed water, divided over approximately 2,000 farms

Costs

They pay only the costs that they had for surface water. The operation and maintenance costs are over 0.02 €/m³.

Type of agreement

The irrigators community has a cost swap between the city council and the irrigators community. It is due farmers raise their water concession and use  of high quality surface water to the city council, and farmers receive water from the reclaimed water facility without extra cost. Farmers only pay the costs that they had for surface water.

Scientific results

Additional information

Venue

Spain

Other

Type of initiative
Private initiative, Other
Waste water source
Municipal
Waste water treatment
Nutrient removal, Desinfection, Suspended solids removal
Farming system
Permanent crops
Application use
Irrigation of food crops to be eaten raw, Irrigation of processed food crops
Irrigation method
Drip irrigation
Implementation stage
Full implementation
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