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EFFECT OF INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENTS

ON RECEIVING WATERS
INTRODUCTION

EFFLUENT: Effluent is defined by the United States


Environmental Protection Agency as "wastewater - treated or
untreated - that flows out of a
treatment plant, sewer, or industrial outfall. Generally refers to wastes
discharged into surface waters ".

INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENT: refers to wastes discharged from the


industries into the surface water,
SOURCES OF WATER
CONTAMINATION

Point Sources of Water Pollution; These are the sources in which the
effluents produced are discharged directly into the river or stream.
These include municipal sewage treatment plant discharges and industrial
plant discharges.

Non-Point Sources of Water Pollution: They are contaminants which are


not directly discharged into the water bodies. Examples of non-point source
water pollution include agricultural and urban runoff, and runoff from
mining, and construction sites.
EFFECTS ON WATER QUALITY

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD); It is the amount of oxygen required by


the micro organisms to decompose the organic matter in the water.
Human and animal wastes as well as effluents from industries processing plant
or animal products contain a mixture of complex organic substances such as
carbohydrates, proteins and fats as their major pollution load. These
substances are readily biodegradable and when introduced into the
environments are quickly decomposed through the action of natural microbial
populations.

Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD): It the measure of the total quantity of


oxygen required to oxidize all organic material into carbon dioxide and water.
CONT.

Nutrients; The availability of plant nutrients, particularly nitrogen and


phosphorus are important determinants of the biological productivity of
aquatic ecosystems. In warm weather, nutrients stimulate rapid growth of
algae and floating aquatic weeds. The water often becomes opaque and has
unpleasant tastes and odours.

Turbidity :Turbidity is an expression of the optical property that causes light


to be scattered and absorbed rather than transmitted in straight lines through a
water sample. Light attenuation by suspended particles in water has two main
types of environmental impact: reduced penetration into water of light for
photosynthesis and reduced visual range of sighted animals and people
CONT.

Electrical Conductivity (EC): Electric Conductivity or Total Dissolved


Solids is a measure of how much total salt (inorganic ions such as sodium,
chloride, magnesium, and calcium) is present in the water. If the conductivity
of a stream suddenly increases, it indicates that there is a source of dissolved
ions in the vicinity.

pH; The pH is a measure of the acid balance of a solution and is defined as


the negative of the logarithm to the base 10 of the hydrogen ion
concentration (UNESCO, WHO & UNEP, 1996).
CONT.

Heavy metals (Lead, Copper and Cadmium, etc) :


Heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Cd) are among the major toxic pollutants in surface
water (Chino, 1981). These have been found to be a problem in streams
attributted by catchments with factories dealing with tanning, smelting,
welding, renovation, manufacture and disposal of car batteries, petroleum
and oil.
Heavy metals are very toxic, when consumed causes many effect to health.
Some of these metals are carcinoogenic which affect the cell.
Temperature: Most waste water have higher temperature than natural
water. When discharged into a water bodies it increases the temperature
of the water causing an unfavorable condition for aquatic life, which
tend to the migration of some aquatic animals and eventually death.
EFFLUENTS DISCHARGE
EFFECT ON AQUATIC LIFE
HEAVY METALS STANDARD
EFFECTS ON SOIL

SALINITY: The ions responsible for salination are: Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ and
Cl−. As the Na+ (sodium) predominates, soils can become sodic. Sodic soils
present particular challenges because they tend to reduce plant yield and very
poor soil structure which limits or prevents water infiltration and drainage.
Salinity from irrigation can occur over time wherever irrigation occurs, since
the water contains some dissolved salt.

Heavy metals like( Lead, Copper and Cadmium, etc) when contained in an
irrigation water reduces the fertility of the soil causing reduced production of
plant, sometimes causes death.
EFFECT ON WATER TREATMENT

Oil and Grease Removal; Some industrial effluents contain oil and
grease which makes it hard for the conventional water treatment to
remove these pollutants except some advanced treatments are applied.

Some wastewater may be muddy, when transported to the water


treatment plant it settles in the transport system and causing plugging
in the tanks.

Effluent with high organic matter contains low dissolve oxygen in which
a proper aeration must be done before treatment.
MEASURES TO BE TAKEN

Limits should be imposed on how much effluent to be discharged.

Standards should be imposed on the effluent characteristics to be discharged


into the river or streams.

Industries must treat their waste before they discharged it to the rivers or
streams.

Environmental protection agencies should monitor the conditions of the


water bodies.

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