Piggery Farm Wastewater: Alternative Solution for Agriculture and Soil Fertility

Abstract

The consequences of piggery farm are increasing public concern particularly, wastewater because of its high pollutant potential. Without the good wastewater treatment systems, it could lead to contaminate the natural water resources nearby. The number of the small and medium size of piggery farms could not afford the wastewater treatment cost. The wastewater management is needed. The objective of this study aims to evaluate the water quality characteristics from the piggery farm in Northeast of Thailand and feasibility study of using wastewater from piggery farm for agriculture purpose. The wastewater from influent, effluent from the system and wastewater before release to natural waterway were sampled and analyzed for water characteristics in term of pH, Temperature, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), Total Total Phosphorus (TP), Total Solids (TS), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Dissolved Solid (TDS), Fat OilandGrease (FOG), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and other heavy metal contaminants such as Zinc (Zn), Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd) and Cupper (Cu). The results found that the wastewater had high potential to pollute the natural waterway. However, some water quality characteristics such as N and P may be the source of good nutrients for agriculture production and increasing soil fertility. Therefore, using piggery farm wastewater for agriculture may be one of alternative solution for soil fertility and wastewater management.