The viability of treated piggery wastewater for reuse in agricultural irrigation

Abstract

The swine production is a very important economic matter, occupying prominent position in the worldwide market. However, it appears as the greater impacting activity for the water resources. Researches point a swine manure production of 105.6 million m3/year in Brazil, which resulted in a piggery wastewater rich in solids, nutrients, heavy metals, and pathogens. Moreover, the water consumption for swine production is approximately 15 L/animal/day in southern Brazil, resulting in an unsustainable water resource demand. Thereby, this study verifies the viability of two parallel stabilization reservoirs as a technology for polishing treated piggery wastewater. This technology has been shown effective in reducing organic matter, nutrients, and pathogens in the treatment of the effluents with low or high organic load rate. The reservoirs can improve effluent quality with minimal energy costs to simple operations. The technique would promote the value of the effluent through its reuse for agricultural irrigation. The study was conducted at a farm in the city of Braço do Norte, Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil; this region has one of the largest densities of pigs in the world, which causes serious environmental problems.