Leaching of heavy metals (Cu, Ni and Zn) and organic matter after sewage sludge application to Mediterranean forest soils.

In Mediterranean dry and semiarid areas, soil organic matter is often depleted due to ancient and intensive human activity. Under these conditions the use of sewage sludge as a land reclamation technique may be a means to revert desertification processes and to enhance soil function and nutrient cycling. However, applications of heavy metal-contaminated sewage sludges can significantly increase potentially toxic metal concentrations in soils and metal transfer to freshwater and plants.