Environmental Damage Caused by Wastewater Discharge into the Lake Manzala in Egypt

Ahmed Ismail

doi:10.11648/j.bio.20170506.14

Abstract

Lake Manzala is a brackish lake in northeastern Egypt on the Nile Delta. It is the largest of the northern Delta lakes of Egypt. The Lake is exposed to high inputs of pollutants from industrial, domestic, and agricultural sources. Climate gases and large amounts of particulate matter, nutrients, bacteria, heavy metals, and toxic organics are transported to the Lake through the wastewater discharge. Water samples were collected and subjected to physicochemical analysis and microbiological study. Results have shown great changes in physical and chemical properties of water including: temperature (13.5°C in winter -32°C in summer), pH (7.8-9.2), dissolved oxygen (2.5-12.8 mgl-1), total dissolved solids (1033-43406 mgl-1), total suspended solids (120-387 mgl-1), ammonia (2.5-32.3 mgl-1), nitrite (0-0.076 mgl-1), nitrate (0.01-7.88 mgl-1), phosphate (0.26-2.37 mgl-1), Fe (0.01-0.63 mgl-1), Zn (0-0.35 mgl-1), Cu (0.01-0.91 mgl-1), Cn (0.002-0.029 mgl-1) and Ni (0-0.002 mgl-1). Results, also, showed a quit great density of total viable bacterial count and indicator organisms including total Coli forms, fecal coli forms, Aeromonas spp., Staphylococcus spp. and Vibrio spp. It is concluded that water in Lake Manzala is highly damaged and the phenomena need more attention in order to reduce the pollution load that reaches the Mediterranean Sea.

Highlights

IntroductionLake Manzala is a highly dynamic aquatic system that has undergone considerable physical, chemical and biological changes
This study was conducted to evaluate environmental damage caused by wastewater discharge into the lake manzala, Egypt
Water samples were collected from two different sites, Al-Gamil and El-Bashiter areas which represent the northern sector and southern sector of the lake respectively

Summary

Introduction

Lake Manzala is a highly dynamic aquatic system that has undergone considerable physical, chemical and biological changes. The lake has been gradually transformed from a largely marine or estuarine environment to a eutrophic nearly fresh water system which can have significant negative ecological, health, social and economic impacts on human. This was a result of different aspects of human impacts mainly wastewater discharge into the lakeas well as different aspects of human impacts of which closing and/or opening of straits, continuous drying processes for human settlement and silting of the lake.

Methods

Results

Conclusion