摘要：In the city of Al Hassa, Eastern Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, wastewater emanating from industrial, municipal and agricultural activities is discharged to open lakes through two main drainage channels D1 and D2. To supplement the inadequate irrigation water, this wastewater is being used by some farmers to irrigate their crops. Untreated or inadequately treated wastewater effluent can degrade the quality of receiving water bodies and be a potential source of water-borne pathogens. Due to water scarcity, especially in arid or semi-arid countries, the reuse of wastewater for agriculture is widespread in the developing countries. This study is an attempt to characterize wastewater being discharged into the lakes through D1 and D2 channels with particular reference to trace elements. The wastewater contained elevated levels of several trace elements and heavy metals. These values were compared with the standards established for wastewater reuse by the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO) and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. It is, therefore, recommended that efforts should be made to explore alternate sources of irrigation water for farming instead of using the available wastewater. Because, its reuse may contaminate both the agricultural land and the limited underlying groundwater resources.
