Impact assessment of soils treated with refinery effluent

The effluent collected from the Panipat oil refinery was analysed for different physico-chemical properties. The systematic investigations were carried out to evaluate the effect of refinery effluent on soil fertility by assessing its impact on various soil physico-chemical and biological properties temporally using pot culture experiments. Different concentrations of effluent viz. control, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% were used for the study. It was observed that application of effluent significantly increased pH, EC, TH, TDS, Ca2+, Mg2+, alkalinity, Cl−, SO42−, Fe, P, Na, K, heavy metals, soil dehydrogenase activity and organic content of soil during all intervals of time except bulk density and specific gravity. On the basis of the study it may be suggested that use of treated oil refinery effluent has no adverse effects on physico-chemical properties of soil and can also be used as an alternate source for irrigating crops as it increases the nutrient content of the soil which is essential for the proper growth and maintenance of crop plants.