Land Reclamation and Biomass Production with Municipal Wastewater and Sludge

To meet the increasing demand for energy, it is anticipated that coal mining activities will be greatly accelerated. Most of the coal will be recovered by strip mining methods that have increased concerns related to the reclamation of these disturbed lands. New reclamation regulations along with increasing costs of chemical fertilizer have resulted in an upsurge of interest in the use of municipal wastewater and sludge as fertilizer substitutes and soil amendments to facilitate the establishment of vegetation on these drastically disturbed lands. The purpose of the book is to review and discuss the current knowledge related to the feasibility of using municipal wastewater and sludge for revegetation and biomass production on all types of disturbed land. The book has also been designed to serve as the basis for an engineering assessment, which addresses these practices as innovative or alternative wastewater and sludge treatment technologies. The major sections of the book cover such topics as: The Pennsylvania Mine Reclamation Program; The Philadelphia Strip Mine Reclamation Program; Institutional, Legal, Economic, and Public Relations Barriers; Reclamation of Gravel Pits and Iron-Ore Overburden; Forest Applications of Sludge; Reclamation with Chicago Sludge; Vegetation Establishment; Engineering Assessment.