Abstract
Industrial effluents with high concentrations of toxic heavy metals are of great concern because of their persistence and non-degradability. However, poor operation and maintenance of wastewater treatment infrastructure is a great concern in South Africa. In this study, physico-chemical parameters and heavy metals (HMs) concentration of wastewater from five different industries, Leeuwkuil wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) inflow and effluent, and Vaal River water samples were monitored between January and September 2017, to investigate the correlation between heavy metal pollution and the location of industries and ascertain the effectiveness of the municipal WWTP. Physico-chemical variables such as pH, biological oxygen demand (BOD), dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (TDS) and electrical conductivity (EC) exhibited both temporal and spatial variations with the values significantly higher in the industrial samples. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) results also showed that aluminium (Al), copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) were significantly higher in industrial effluents (p < 0.05), with only Zn and Al exhibiting significant seasonal variability. Statistical correlation analysis revealed a poor correlation between physicochemical parameters and the HMs compositional quality of wastewater. However, toxic HMs (Zn, Cu and Pb) concentrations in treated wastewater from WWTP were above the permissible limits. Although the WWTP was effective in maintaining most of the wastewater parameters within South African Green drop Standards, the higher Cu, Zn, Pb and COD in its final effluent is a concern in terms of Vaal river health and biological diversity. Therefore, we recommend continuous monitoring and maintenance of the WWTPs infrastructure in the study area.
Highlights
Industrialisation is key to the economic development and prosperity of any nation.the importance of industrialisation in the achievement of global and national economic growth, wealth and development notwithstanding, it can be harmful to the environment.Rapid industrialisation is believed to be one of the main contributors to the pollution of environmental resources around the world [1], and South Africa is no exception [2,3]
The highest sample temperature was recorded for Industry 3 compared to wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) influent
MDL, minimum detectable limit of the Results from this study show that industrial wastewater and WWTP effluent are burdened with toxic heavy metals like Pb that the municipal WWTPs are unable to treat efficiently, constituting as pollutant in the Vaal River
Summary
Industrialisation is key to the economic development and prosperity of any nation.the importance of industrialisation in the achievement of global and national economic growth, wealth and development notwithstanding, it can be harmful to the environment.Rapid industrialisation is believed to be one of the main contributors to the pollution of environmental resources around the world [1], and South Africa is no exception [2,3]. Industrialisation is key to the economic development and prosperity of any nation. The importance of industrialisation in the achievement of global and national economic growth, wealth and development notwithstanding, it can be harmful to the environment. Rapid industrialisation is believed to be one of the main contributors to the pollution of environmental resources around the world [1], and South Africa is no exception [2,3]. While high-quality water is essential for most industrial processes, many of these processes generate large effluents of contaminated wastewater, whose safe disposal into receiving water bodies is of great environmental and health concern worldwide. Competing demands on limited water resources coupled with. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 1096; doi:10.3390/ijerph17031096 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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