PHYSICO-CHEMICAL AND GEOTECHNICAL PROPERTIES OF GREYWATER POLLUTED SOILS TREATED WITH CEREAL GRUEL SUPERNATANT

Abstract

The present study assessed the impact of Cereal Gruel Supernatant (CGS) on physico-chemical and hydraulic/geotechnical properties of Greywater Contaminated Soils (GCS). The GCSs and Control Soils (CSs) were collected from two sampling locations within Basement Complex geological formation at depths of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 m from the surface. The experiment consists of four treatments: CS with no presence of greywater, GCS, CS with 50 ml of CGS, and GCS with 50 ml of CGS. The results of this study showed that the alteration of most analyzed properties on GCSs depend greatly on sampling depth while effect of CGS treatment on properties of GCS is site specific. There is no significant effect of CGS on both Dry Density and Moisture Content of collected GCSs at Eutric Luvisols and Vertic Cambisol locations while impact of CGS on other analyzed soil properties is site dependent. Two-way ANOVA showed that based on sampling depths, there are significant differences at 5% level for most analyzed soil properties except Shear Strength, Organic Matter and Soil Resistivity while no significant difference at 5% level occurred based on soil treatment with CGS. Further investigation is needed to study the trend of alteration of soil properties with sampling depths by various cereal based starchy fermented gruel on GCS at varying concentrations.