American Journal of Analytical Chemistry, 2018, 9, 482-499 http://www.scirp.org/journal/ajac ISSN Online: 2156-8278 ISSN Print: 2156-8251 DOI: 10.4236/ajac.2018.910036 Oct. 24, 2018 482 American Journal of Analytical Chemistry Reuse of Treated Municipal Wastewater under Different Growing Seasons for the Spinach Production Majida Mcheik 1,2,3 , Joumana Toufaily 1,2 , Mariam Akil 1,2 , Tayssir Hamieh 1,2 , Marie Therese Abi Saab 4 , Bachar Haj Hassan 2 , Youssef Rouphael 5 1 Laboratory of Materials, Catalysis, Environment and Analytical Methods Labortory (MCEMA), Ecole Doctorale des Sciences et de Technologies (EDST), FS (Science Faculty), Lebanese University, Hadath, Lebanon 2 Laboratoire des Etudes Appliquées au Développement Durable et Energie Renouvelable (LEADDER), PRASE, EDST, Université Libanaise, Hadath, Liban 3 Ministry of Agriculture, Bir Hassan, Lebanon 4 Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute, Fanar, Lebanon 5 University of Naples, Naples, Italy Abstract A study was conducted in the Bekaa valley of Lebanon aiming to produce spinach leaves with treated effluent from Joub Janine plant under two grow- ing seasons. Two experiments were laid out in a randomized complete block design. The effect of water quality on the qualitative, quantitative aspects and microbiological contamination of leaves was assessed. The results showed that the treated wastewater from Joub Janine plant was of category III. The highest mean marketable yields was recorded for T7 (4727 g·m −2 ) followed by T6 (3533 g·m −2 ) that were drip irrigated with treated wastewater. The uptake of K, Mg, Na and Cl was significantly 49.09%, 30.20%, 96.79% and 33.20%, respectively, higher in the spring than in autumn. The nitrate levels in all treatments and seasons were below the maximum level in foodstuffs as pro- vided by the European Commission regulations. For the lipophilic fraction, there was no significant difference among treatments and also among treat- ments and seasons interacting together and the highest hydrophilic fraction and total phenols levels recorded for the autumn rather than the summer season. In general, pathogenic bacteria was absent on spinach leaves for all treatments and growing seasons. Keywords Treated Wastewater, Spinach Cultivation, Mineral Composition, Qualitative Parameters How to cite this paper: Mcheik, M., Tou- faily, J., Akil, M., Hamieh, T., Saab, M.T.A., Hassan, B.H. and Rouphael, Y. (2018) Reuse of Treated Municipal Wastewater under Different Growing Seasons for the Spinach Production. American Journal of Analytical Chemistry, 9, 482-499. https://doi.org/10.4236/ajac.2018.910036 Received: August 21, 2018 Accepted: October 21, 2018 Published: October 24, 2018 Copyright © 2018 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access