Previous research relating to alum sludge land application has primarily
been restricted to laboratory studies of short-term environmental effects. In
general, most research has concluded that the environmental effects of alum
sludge constituents can be easily controlled.
This study investigated the fate of land-applied alum sludge constituents
nearly three years after incorporation into a Slagle soil. An existing field site was
used. The site had been used for a pilot study examining the land application of
alum sludge from the Harwood's Mill Water Treatment Plant in Newport News,
Virginia. Alum sludge and lime were applied to the site in November, 1989.
Soil, soilwater, groundwater and pine needle tissue media were sampled
during the summer of 1992. It was determined that the alum sludge posed no
observable long-term threat to groundwater quality or vegetative productivity.
Migration of alum sludge constituents through the soil profile could not be
confirmed in this research. However, acid precipitation may have destroyed the
alkalinity added to the soil. Thus, long-term management of alum sludge land
application to acid soils may require additional increments of alkalinity.
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