Christopher J. Martinez, Ph.D
Development of a Tool for Wet-Weather Storage and Potential Nitrogen
Leaching from Reclaimed Water Land Application Systems
Christopher J. Martinez, Ph.D
279 Frazier Rogers Hall
PO Box 110570, University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
The use of treated municipal wastewater
(reclaimed water) for agricultural and
landscape irrigation reduces withdrawals from
natural surface and ground waters by
providing an alternative source of water;
minimizing the impact on this limited natural
resource. Applied appropriately, reclaimed
water can also be used to recharge
groundwater aquifers. According to the
Florida Department of Environmental
Protection 2006 Reuse Inventory, Florida
reuses 660 million gallons of reclaimed water
each day.
The purpose of this project is to develop a tool that will be used for the
permitting and design of slow-rate reclaimed water land application systems in
the state of Florida. Specifically, the tool will:
• Determine off-line wet-weather storage requirements using
site-specific rainfall and plant-specific evapotranspiration.
• Provide an estimation of annual nitrate loading to groundwater.
• The tool is be freely available and web-accessible via the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection.