Use of cooling tower water from electrical power plants for irrigation in Minnesota
In a three year field study, cooling tower water (CTW), was tested as an irrigation water source on a Hubbard loamy sand (sandy, mixed Udorthentic Haploboroll). Two crops, corn and alfalfa, and a fallow area were irrigated with CTW at two rates, one which replaced estimated evapotranspiration (ET) losses in the cropped areas minus precipitation since the last irrigation, and a second at twice this rate. Application of CTW during the growing season increased the electrical conductivity (EC) of the soil water sampled in situ, but not to levels that would affect production of corn, alfalfa, and most other agronomic crops. Apparently, natural precipitation received during the year was sufficient to keep the soil profile flushed of salts and prevent a step-wise accumulation of salts in the profile from one growing season to the next. Chemical analyses of soil water indicated it remained undersaturated with respect to gypsum for most of the growing season. The large quantity of SO/sub 4/ applied in the irrigation was readily leached from the profile. The combination of high leaching fractions (LF) plus the ease with which the CTW salts were flushed from this profile resulted in a large increase in salt concentration in the ground water at 12 m. Concentrations of SO/sub 4/ peaked in 1981 over 20 times greater than background levels observed in 1979.
- OSTI ID:
- 5213965
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
200201 -- Fossil-Fueled Power Plants-- Waste Management-- Thermal Effluents
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Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
520200 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ALFALFA
CEREALS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHEMISTRY
COOLING TOWERS
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
GRAMINEAE
GRASS
GROUND WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
IRRIGATION
LEGUMINOSAE
MAIZE
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS RECOVERY
MECHANICAL STRUCTURES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANTS
POWER PLANTS
PROCESSING
RECOVERY
SOIL CHEMISTRY
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TOWERS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WATER
WATER CHEMISTRY