Effect of reclaimed water irrigation on microbes and heavy metal content in green landscapes soil

In order to explore the feasibility of using the reclaimed water to irrigate green landscapes，the soil samples of different depths were collected in reclaimed water irrigated areas and tap water areas for the microbial quantity，heavy metal content and chloride ion content were compared and analyzed. The results showed that the number of soil microbes in the reclaimed area was significantly higher than that in the tap water area. The soil depth had a significant effect on the amount of soil microbes，while the number of microbes in the depth of 30-40 cm was the lowest. The difference of heavy metal content between reclaimed water irrigated areas and tap water areas was not significant. The contents of heavy metals in different depths of soils were significant，and total Zn，total Pb and total Cd exceeded the background values of soils in Guangdong Province，but all of them did not reach the level of endangering human health. The chloride ion content of irrigating reclaimed water soil was significantly higher than tap water irrigated area，however，in the appropriate range of soil chlorine content.