Landscape Plant Establishment and Maintenance with Treated Sewage Wastewater Irrigation

A one-year field study was conducted to investigate the effects of irrigating with treated sewage wastewater from two sources on the establishment and maintenance of landscape plant species.  The wastewater was obtained from the City of Hollywood, Florida, a large urban center and from the municipalities of Cooper City and the Town of Davie, Florida, small suburban communities.  The control irrigation was potable water supplied by the City of Hollywood. Four tree species, pigeon-plum, Coccoloba diversifolia Jacq., buttonwood, Conocarpus erectus L.,  paradise tree, Simarouba glauca DC., and  West Indian mahogany, Swietenia mahagoni (L.) Jacq., five shrub species, firebush, Hamelia patens Jacq., star jasmine, Jasminum multiflorum (Burm f.) Andrews, wild coffee, Psychotria nervosa Sw., dwarf schefflera, Schefflera arboricola  (Hayata) Merr., and gardenia, Gardenia jasminoides J. Ellis and two turfgrass species, Bermuda grass, Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. and St. Augustine grass, Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walter) Kuntze were planted in landscape plots adjacent to the City of Hollywood Wastewater Treatment Facility in March and April, 2009.  Irrigation was delivered by overhead spray for the turfgrass species and by drip irrigation for the shrub and tree species and plants were maintained for 14 months, until June, 2010.   Plant growth was not significantly different when irrigated by either wastewater source or the control in all plant species except for firebush.  Firebush plants irrigated with the Hollywood wastewater grew significantly (P<0.05) larger than those irrigated with the control.