AWWA JAW57845

Land application of drinking water treatment residuals to reduce phosphorus (P) from agricultural land could provide economic and environmental benefits to municipalities and communities by preserving surface water quality. Only treatment residuals that have significant P sorption capacity will reduce runoff P, and the ability of different treatment residuals from different plants to reduce P runoff varies greatly. The authors describe a simple test that can determine whether a treatment residual will serve as a P sorbent and the relative amount that should be land-applied. Currently, most utilities are landfilling their treatment residuals. Utility managers will be interested in land application of their residuals because it will decrease their waste-disposal expenses, and it may help protect their source water from agricultural runoff. The major stumbling block for utilities is obtaining permits for land application. However, predicting the performance of a given treatment residual to reduce runoff P is necessary to obtain permits from regulatory agencies. Includes 36 references, tables, figures.