Evaluation of Wastewater Discharge from Al-Sadr Teaching Hospital and its impact on the Al-Khorah channel and Shatt Al-Arab River in Basra City-Iraq

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the performance of the wastewater treatment plant in Al-Sadr teaching hospital in Basrah, and effects of hospital wastes discharged from Al-Sadr teaching hospital to the Khorah channel and Shatt Al-Arab river. This study started from September 2015 to  April 2016. Samples were collected monthly from four stations. pH of all the studied stations was found to be above 7. The average values of BOD₅, COD, TSS, TDS, PO₄ , NO₃, CL, in station 1 were 173.1, 385.9, 324.3, 2823.8, 4.3, 18.6, 1522.1 mg/l in station 2 were  146.7, 347.9, 270.6, 2849.3, 4.5, 14.3, 1429.4 mg/l in station 3 were 14.7, 94.3, 163.1, 2133.8, 4.5, 45.9, 1140.9 mg/l, and in station 4 they were 7.4, 66.3, 127.1, 2388.8, 3.2, 40.1, 1157.4 mg/l respectively. The results showed elevation in a number of the total bacterial count and total coliforms in stations one and two compared to the stations three and four.

According to the results, the concentration of BOD₅, COD, TSS, TDS, PO₄ , NO₃, CL, in station 1 of the hospital was more than the Iraqi reuse standard which indicates inefficient removal of pollutants in the mentioned hospital wastewater treatment plant.

Keywords: Hospital Wastewater, Physico-Chemical Characteristics, Environmental Threat.