Abstract
Pig farm seepage poses an environmental risk, considering that seepage can be generally applied on land without appropriate agronomic criteria or may accidentally spill on the natural environment. These environmental risks include increasing oxygen demand, nutrient loading of water-bodies, promoting toxic and algal blooms eutrophication, thus, leading to a destabilized environment. This research was conducted to determine the impact that the pig farm seepage may have the receiving environment based on the analyses of the physicochemical parameters of the adjacent environments. Wastewater and soil samples were collected between the periods of March 2013 to August 2013 and wastewater was analyzed for pH, temperature, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), salinity, turbidity, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), NO3, NO2, and PO43−. The results for wastewater samples for BOD (163 mg/L to 3350 mg/L), TDS (0.77 g/L to 6.48 mg/L), COD (210 mg/L to 9400 mg/L), and NO3 (55 mg/L to 1680 mg/L), were higher than the maximum permissible limits. Results of soil samples for TDS (0.01g/L to 0.88 g/L), COD (40 mg/L to 304 mg/L), NO3 (32.5 mg/L to 475 mg/L), and NO2 (7.35 mg/L to 255 mg/L) were also higher than recommended limits. The results revealed that the seepage from pig farm degraded the natural environment by causing eutrophication, promote toxic and algal blooms, increase oxygen demand and thus destabilize the homeostatic balance of the receiving environment. Key words: Physicochemical parameters, pollution, soil, wastewater, seepage, pig farm, environment.
Highlights
Mean and standard deviation (SD) values for each of the physicochemical parameter analyses were done in triplicates of wastewater
Results for pH, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), dissolved oxygen (DO), salinity, temperature, nitrate, nitrite, orthophosphate varied significantly (p
High levels of PO43, NO3 and NO2 leads to the eutrophication of the natural environment, which was evident of organic matter infiltration occurring at pig farm
Summary
Mismanagement of seepage may pollute the environment with nitrogen, phosphorus, bacteriological pathogens, and parasites, which may impact negatively on the environment (Ramırez et al, 2005). Pollution of the environment can have serious consequences, with negative impact on the aquatic life, from microorganisms to insects, birds, fish, and at the same time, the health of terrestrial animals and plants (Pachepsky et al, 2006). Mass storage production of seepage of pig farm wastewater may be a serious hazard for biological balance of the environment (Pachepsky et al, 2006). Store their seepage in lagoons for a long time and this may cause pollutants to leach through the soil and pollute ground water (Pachepsky et al, 2006)
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