Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus, Vehari, 61100, Pakistan.
Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan.
Environ Geochem Health. 2023 Aug;45(8):5599-5618. doi: 10.1007/s10653-020-00702-3. Epub 2020 Sep 2.
Freshwater shortage and its contamination with various types of pollutants are becoming the most alarming issues worldwide due to impacts on socioeconomic values. Considering an increasing freshwater scarcity, it is imperative for the growers, particularly in semiarid and arid areas, to use wastewater for crop production. Wastewaters generally contain numerous essential inorganic and organic nutrients which are considered necessary for plant metabolism. Besides, this practice provokes various hygienic, ecological and health concerns due to the occurrence of toxic substances such as heavy metals. Pakistan nowadays faces a severe freshwater scarcity. Consequently, untreated wastewater is used routinely in the agriculture sector. In this review, we have highlighted the negative and positive affectivity of wastewater on the chemical characteristics of the soil. This review critically delineates toxic metal accumulation in soil and their possible soil-plant-human transfer. We have also estimated and deliberated possible health hazards linked with the utilization of untreated city waste effluents for the cultivation of food/vegetable crops. Moreover, we carried out a multivariate analysis of data (144 studies of wastewater crop irrigation in Pakistan) to trace out common trends in published data. We have also compared the limit values of toxic metals in irrigation water, soil and plants. Furthermore, some viable solutions and future viewpoints are anticipated taking into account the on-ground situation in Pakistan-such as planning and sanitary matters, remedial/management technologies, awareness among local habitants (especially farmers) and the role of the government, NGOs and pertinent stakeholders. The data are supported by 13 tables and 7 figures.
由于对社会经济价值的影响，淡水资源短缺及其受到各种类型污染物的污染正成为全球最令人担忧的问题。考虑到淡水日益短缺，对于种植者来说，特别是在半干旱和干旱地区，利用废水进行作物生产是当务之急。废水中通常含有许多对植物代谢必不可少的无机和有机营养物质。此外，由于存在重金属等有毒物质，这种做法引发了各种卫生、生态和健康问题。如今，巴基斯坦面临着严重的淡水短缺问题。因此，未经处理的废水在农业部门被常规使用。在这篇综述中，我们强调了废水对土壤化学特性的负面影响和积极影响。本文批判性地阐述了有毒金属在土壤中的积累及其可能的土壤-植物-人类转移。我们还估算和审议了与利用未经处理的城市废水来种植粮食/蔬菜作物相关的潜在健康危害。此外，我们对（巴基斯坦 144 项废水灌溉作物的研究）数据进行了多元分析，以找出已发表数据中的常见趋势。我们还比较了灌溉水中、土壤中和植物中的有毒金属限量值。此外，还考虑到巴基斯坦当地的实际情况，例如规划和卫生问题、补救/管理技术、当地居民（特别是农民）的意识以及政府、非政府组织和相关利益相关者的作用，提出了一些可行的解决方案和未来观点。这些数据得到了 13 个表格和 7 个图表的支持。
