Biosolids from waste water treatment facilities applied to soils not only add plant nutrients, but also increase infiltration and decrease runoff and erosion. Wet biosolids from New York, NY, were surface applied at 0 to 90？Mg ha？1 dry weight to soils near El Paso, Tex. Simulated rainfall intensities of 16.4？cm hr？1 for 30 minutes applied to 0.5？m2 soil plots yielded initial infiltration rates of ~16？cm hr？1 for all plots. Biosolids applications extended the duration of the initially high infiltration rates. After 30 minutes, infiltration rates for bare soil were 3？cm hr？1 without and 10？cm hr？1 with 90？Mg biosolids ha？1. Applied biosolids, plant litter, surface gravel, and plant base contributed surface cover, which absorbed raindrop energy and reduced erosion. Biosolids increased cumulative infiltration on the vegetated, wet soils more than for the dry or bare soils. Biosolids increased cumulative infiltration from 2 to 6？cm on a bare gravelly soil and from 9.3 to 10.6？cm on a vegetated soil. 1. Introduction Throughout history, human waste from raw to highly treated waste has been applied to soils by various methods. In the United States, Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution Control Act in 1948, which governed the release of waters and solids into the environment. This act codified raw sewage treatment in publicly owned treatment works (POTWs), where water is removed and residual solids yield sewage sludge. Industrial waste streams are separated from domestic waste to produce much cleaner wastewater solid residuals. The current term for wastewater solid residuals is “biosolids”, which is a term coined by the Water Environment Federation. While biosolids have positive nutrient and hydrologic properties, biosolids were often considered a waste product to be discarded. One method of discarding biosolids was by ocean dumping. The Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988 as the name implies, forbid biosolids disposal in the ocean and increased biosolids competition for landfill disposal. Changing the name from “sewage sludge” to the more benign term “biosolids” eased the way for beneficial land applications of biosolids. Biosolids are composed of water, organic matter, and inorganic matter. Water accounts for 60% to 80% of the mass in dewatered biosolids. The dry solids of anaerobically digested biosolids are about 60% organic matter [1]. The biosolids organic fraction is composed of relatively stable organic compounds that resist oxidation in the anaerobic digestion process. The organic matter in biosolids is a source of slow release nitrogen from the
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