The wastewater of Firdaus Tanneries, Muridke, Pakistan, was very highly saline and very highly sodic (water-quality class: C4-S4). It was being used for irrigating fields near the Tanneries but there was a piece of wasteland which, because of its elevation, could not receive this water. The vegetation of this wasteland and that of the irrigated field was studied.
The effects of wastewater application on characteristics of the soil were studied in the irrigation field and, for comparison, also in the wasteland soil. The soil samples were taken from the surface and from 5, 10, and 20 cm depths. Moisture content, water-stable aggregates, water-holding and cation-exchange capacities, amounts of organic matter, and exchangeable sodium, were greater in the irrigated field as compared with wasteland soil at each corresponding soil-depth. Electrical conductivity, pH, and the amounts of calcium, magnesium, soluble sodium, chlorides, sulphates, and the values of Sodium Adsorption Ratio and Exchangeable Sodium Percentage, were significantly higher in wasteland as compared with those in the irrigated field at each corresponding soil-depth. These values tended to decrease from the surface to 20 cm soil depth in each site.