Rapid Assessment Method for Evaluation of the Weighted Contribution of Anthropogenic Pollution: A Case Study of Lake Burullus, Egypt

M S Moussa,Mohamed K Mostafa

doi:10.3390/w13233337

Abstract

This paper proposes a pragmatic approach for rapid assessment of the weighted contribution of the main waste streams contributing to pollution of surface water bodies. A case study was conducted on Lake Burullus in Egypt. The lake suffers from pollution due to many human-based activities around the lake, such as domestic, industrial, agriculture, fish farming, and solid wastes. The weighted contribution of these activities was assessed in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP). The results showed that the highest organic load is due to the domestic wastewater pollution component (63.2% of COD load), followed by fish aquaculture (35.4%). The highest TN (43.9%) and TP (58.3%) pollutant loads to Lake Burullus are due to the agricultural pollution component, followed by fish aquaculture with pollutant loads of 28.5% and 25.3%, respectively. The industrial wastewater pollution component has a very small effect on the pollution of Lake Burullus. The assessment of this study will help identify and magnify the key polluters and thus guide the decision-makers to prioritize investment planning for depollution intervention projects. For example, if the target is to reduce COD loads, investments must be directed toward the rehabilitation and expansion of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).

Highlights

Industrial wastewater is the main source of heavy metals in surface water, while untreated domestic wastewater is the main source of organic compounds [8,9]
The results show that the total nitrogen (TN) pollution load is about 6172 tons/year, while the total phosphorus (TP) pollution load is about 1032 tons/year
For the case of Lake Burullus, we conclude that the domestic wastewater pollution component generates the highest organic load

Summary

Introduction

There has been a dramatic increase in human-based activities as a result of population growth to fulfill economic development needs in different sectors (agriculture, industrial, urban development business, fish farming, etc.) [5,6,7] The impact of such diverse human-based activities clearly manifests at downstream rivers, lakes, and coastal zones in the form of pollutants and environmental asset deterioration [2]. High concentrations of cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), arsenic (As), and lead (Pb) were observed in the collected water samples that exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water guidelines [12] They concluded that human and industrial activities played a significant role in polluting surface water bodies [12]. 17 water samples were collected from different points along India’s coastline that extend about 7500 km [13]

Methods

Results

Conclusion