The reduced availability of water resources in Egypt has imposed the need to intensify the use of wastewater for crop irrigation in the alluvial soils. Relevant effects can derive from contents of potentially toxic metals (PTMs) in supply resources soils, crops, and groundwater in these areas. For this reason the PTM content has to be monitored to evaluate and minimize health hazards. Therefore, in this context, two areas of the SE Nile Delta subjected to 25 year of wastewater irrigation, using agricultural drainage water (ADW) and mixed wastewater (MWW) were chosen and compared with a nearby site irrigated with Nile freshwater (NFW). At each of the three sites, ten samples of irrigation water, topsoil, berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) plants, and seven groundwater samples were collected and analyzed for Cr, Co, Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn. Results indicate that the total contents of Co, Cu, Ni, and Zn in soils collected from the three sampling sites and Pb in the MWW-irrigated soils were higher than their average natural contents in the earth’s crust, indicating potential risks. The DTPA-extractable contents of Cu in the three sites, in addition to Pb and Zn in the MWW-irrigated soils, exceeded the safe limits. The MWW-irrigated soils showed a considerable degree of metal contamination, while the NFW- and ADW-irrigated soils showed moderate and low levels of contamination, respectively. The contents of the six PTMs in the three sites showed low individual ecological risks, except for Pb in the MWW-irrigated soils that showed a moderate risk; however, the overall ecological risk remained low in all samples. The values of Co, Cu, and Ni in berseem shoot in addition to Pb from the MWW-irrigated soils were over the maximum permissible levels for animal feeding. Values of root-to-shoot translocation factor were lower than 1.0 for Cr, Co and Ni but higher than 1.0 for Cu, Pb, and Zn. Berssem plant is a good candidate for phytofiltration of Cr, Co and Ni, while for extracting Cu, Pb and Zn from polluted soils. The groundwater samples collected from the three sampling sites showed lower metal concentrations than the safe limits for drinking standards. Further remediation studies should be taken into account to alleviate potential environmental and health-related risks when using supply resources different from freshwater.

This work is a novel trial to integrate geostatistics with fuzzy logic under the geographic information system (GIS) environment to model soil pollution. Soil samples from seventy-one soil profiles in the northern Nile Delta, Egypt, and were analyzed for total concentrations of Cd, Co, Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn. Metal distribution maps were generated using ordinary kriging methods. They were normalized by linear and non-linear fuzzy membership functions (FMFs) and overlain by fuzzy operators (And, OR, Sum, Product, and Gamma). The final maps were validated using the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC). The best-fitted semivariogram models were Gaussian for Cd, Pb, and Ni, circular for Co and Zn, and exponential for Cu. The ROC and AUC analysis revealed that the non-linear FMFs were more effective than the linear functions for modeling soil pollution. Overall, the highest AUC value (0.866; very good accuracy) resulted from applying the fuzzy Sum overly to the non-linearly normalized layers, implying the superiority of this model for decision-making in the studied area. Accordingly, 92% of the investigated soils were severely polluted. Our study would increase insight into soil metal pollution on a regional scale, especially in arid regions.

Bioadsorption using agricultural waste offers a promising approach for removing toxic metals from wastewater. This study explores the potential of chemically activated banana peels (BPs) as a green and cost-effective bioadsorbent for Cu(II) and Zn(II) removal. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealed the presence of functional groups like alcohols, phenols, and amino acids on activated BPs, potentially responsible for metal ion binding. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) confirmed the presence of cavities on the BPs surface and the existence of oxygen and potassium. The adsorption capacity of BPs was investigated under various conditions, including pH, contact time, sorbent dosage, metal concentration, and temperature. This study used Langmuir, Freundlich, Tempkin, and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) isotherm models to describe the equilibrium results of Cu (II) and Zn (II) adsorption. The Langmuir isotherm model best described the adsorption process, suggesting monolayer coverage of metal ions on the BPs surface. Maximum adsorption capacities were 3.2 mg g⁻¹ for Cu(II) and 2.8 mg g⁻¹ for Zn(II), demonstrating the effectiveness of BPs in metal removal. Kinetic studies indicated pseudo-first-order (PFO) behavior for Cu(II) and pseudo-second-order (PSO) behavior for Zn(II) adsorption. Thermodynamic analysis revealed a spontaneous and exothermic process (negative Gibbes free energy (ΔG°) and enthalpy (ΔH°) with decreased randomness [negative entropy (ΔS°)] at the biosorption interface. Finally, the BPs sorbent was successfully applied to remove different metal ions from real wastewater samples collected from the El Wadi drain.