Land application of horse stall bedding and municipal sludge can increase runoff concentrations of nutrients,organic matter, and bacteria as well as steroidal hormones such as estrogen. Concentrations of materials in runoff fromsites treated with animal manure can be reduced by aluminum sulfate, or alum [Al2(SO4)314H2O] treatment. Theobjectives of this study were to assess plots treated with horse stall bedding or municipal sludge for: (a) runoff quality[concentrations of nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), orthophosphate-phosphorus (PO4-P), fecalcoliform (FC), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 17- estradiol (17 -E, a form of estrogen)]; (b) changes in runoffquality caused by alum treatment; and (c) time variations in concentrations of the analysis parameters. Horse beddingand municipal sludge were applied to twelve 2.4 6.1 m fescue plots (six each for the bedding and sludge). Three of thebedding-treated and three of the sludge-treated plots were also treated with alum. Simulated rainfall (64 mm/h) wasapplied to the 12 treated plots and to three control (no treatment) plots. The data were analyzed as originating fromseparate completely randomized, one-way designs with three replications of each treatment. The first design had treatmentlevels of bedding, bedding and sludge, and control, while the second design had treatment levels of sludge, sludge andalum, and control. The control data were common to both designs. The first 0.5 h runoff was sampled and analyzed for theparameters described above. Analysis parameter concentrations for the waste treated plots were generally lower thanthose previously reported for runoff after organic treatments. In some cases, concentrations were no different from thecontrols. Mass losses of all parameters were low and agronomically insignificant. Alum addition decreased runoff PO4-Pconcentrations and increased NO3-N concentrations but had no effect on concentrations of other parameters. Asignificant effect of alum addition on 17 -E and COD concentrations was anticipated on the basis of previous studies; itsabsence might have been due to inadequate mixing or interval between addition and simulated rainfall. Relationshipsbetween concentration and collection time followed two patterns: (a) highest concentrations occurring during the firstsample (two minutes following runoff initiation; NO3-N, COD, FC and 17 -E) and (b) delay in peak concentration untilfour minutes following runoff initiation (NH3-N and PO4-P). The detection of different general relationships betweenconcentration and time suggests that different mechanisms are dominant in transport of the parameters analyzed.
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Busheé et al. (1998) studied this question.