Mitigating agricultural water shortages by recycling industrial residual water

“Industrial residual water can be used to combat drought in agriculture rather than simply being discharged to surface water. Bavaria has implemented the reuse of its treated residual water by farms in its surroundings. A pilot study has been carried out using Bavaria’s residual water from its wastewater treatment plant for the subirrigation of a plot of agricultural land.
The results revealed that subirrigation raised the groundwater level and consequently increased the soil moisture content to a level that improved the water supply to the crop. Using industrial residual water to combat drought rather than discharging it unused can contribute to the alleviation of water shortages.”

(Citaat: Bartholomeus, R.P., van Huijgevoort, M.H.J., Rozema, J., van Loon, A.H. Mitigating agricultural water shortages by recycling industrial residual water – Water matters (2019)april)