干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Application of sewage sludge as soil amendment is widely practiced in the world due to its high content of organic matter, macro and micro-nutrients. In the past sewage sludges were regarded as waste products and were often incinerated, dumped in occasion or landfills. As a result of rapidly increasing population, urbanization and industrialization, wastewater production and sewage sludge generation have increased manifold. Due to the shortage of irrigation water and high cost of mineral fertilizers, there is increasing trend of sewage sludge use in agriculture, especially under intensive cropping in arid and semi arid region countries. Therefore, application of sewage sludge to agricultural soils would be sustainable and economical due to nutrient cycling and disposal purpose. However, there could be some risks associated with the use of sewage sludge due to potentially harmful content such as heavy metals and pathogens present in the sludge. This paper, therefore, present review on various aspects of sewage sludge use in agriculture.