Abstract
This work has focused on a pharmaceutical plant waters and the environmental impact of its discharges. The Water Quality Index (WQI), the Organic Pollution Index (OPI) and the Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR) of incoming and outgoing waters were analyzed over seasonal variations for 5 months using classical and mathematical indices. Highly significant increases were observed at the output (p < 0.001) for electrical conductivity, alkalinity, calcium and sodium; very significant (p < 0.01) for nitrites, COD and BOD5; significant (p < 0.05) for turbidity, potassium and chlorides. The sulfates, nitrates, phosphates, ammonia, TSS, magnesium, aluminum, iron and manganese showed no significant differences (p > 0.05). These parameters remained high all over the study period except for the BOD5. The WQI was reported in input waters in the range 85.9–89.5 indicating water safe for domestic use, range 42.3–60.9 (medium to bad) in output waters highlighting the water pollution. The OPI highlighted waters with low-to-moderate pollution, essentially due to high levels of nitrites. The SAR was found in “medium-to-high” salinity and “low sodium” ranges, thus precautions required in soils but without significant global effects. The COD/BOD5 ratio highlighted a wastewater sometimes difficultly biodegradable (ratio > 3). In conclusion, often throughout all the study period, the outgoing waters were found with bad quality and non-negligible risks for soils; it is thus strongly advocated that these waters must undergo appropriate treatment to improve its physicochemical quality.
Highlights
Water is a precious resource, threatened by intensive exploitation, increasing pollution of the reserves and the growing needs of a constantly increasing population
In Algeria, wastewater is generally sent to a treatment plant (WWTP) where it undergoes treatment, which mainly aims to eliminate organic matter (OM), suspended solids (SS) and more and more often nitrogen and/or phosphorus
The average parameters levels between incoming and outgoing waters were analyzed to assess the trophic status of the wastewater discharged by the plant in relation with
Summary
Water is a precious resource, threatened by intensive exploitation, increasing pollution of the reserves and the growing needs of a constantly increasing population. In Algeria, wastewater is generally sent to a treatment plant (WWTP) where it undergoes treatment, which mainly aims to eliminate organic matter (OM), suspended solids (SS) and more and more often nitrogen and/or phosphorus. These “treated” effluents are discharged into the natural environment, into a watercourse or a river, which itself directly or indirectly feeds the underground aquifers used for drinking water supply. Many “lower”- and “lowermiddle”-income countries use the wastewater they generate for irrigation of agricultural and horticultural land, and some countries use more than 40% of their municipal wastewater for this purpose (Lees et al 2016)
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