When wastewater is used to irrigate crops in areas experiencing drought, wind can aerosolize disease-causing germs and chemicals found in the water, according to a recent study published in Agronomy for Sustainable Development.
For the study, researchers performed various wind tunnel experiments while monitoring land plots irrigated with either pure water or water infused with virus-contaminated wastewater. Murine mengoviruses, which can incite fever in humans, were used as surrogates for human enteric viruses — including small pox and hepatitis A — so the environmental conditions for the experiment remained safe.
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Researchers found between 1 percent and 15 percent of viruses carried to the soil by waste water were converted into a fine spray and became airborne when exposed to moderate wind.
"Combined with knowledge on virus exchange from respiratory to gastroenteric tracts and virus inactivation in air, we anticipate that our model will help policymakers to refine regulations and standards governing wastewater reuse in irrigation," said one of the study's principal investigators Pierre Renault of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research in Paris.
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