The Impacts of Hospital Effluent Discharges on the Physico-chemical Water Quality of a Receiving Stream at Ile-Ife, Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

In order to contribute to the understanding of the impact of wastewater discharges from a Hospital in south-western Nigeria on the receiving water bodies, the physico-chemical qualities of the two wastewater point sources from the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC) Ile-Ife were characterized, and their impacts on the water quality of the receiving Elekete stream were assessed. Eight sampling stations were selected for the study: three, were located each on the unimpacted and impacted sections of the receiving Elekete stream while one each was located on the two wastewater point sources from OAUTHC. The physico-chemical parameters investigated include: oxygen parameters, major cations, major anions, nutrient compounds, physical parameters (temperature, turbidity, solids) as well as pH and conductivity. Samples were collected from each sampling station fortnightly for nine months and analysed using standardised laboratory methods. The results were analysed using relevant statistical methods. The result showed significant difference (P < 0.05) for all parameters between the impacted and unimpacted sections of effluent receiving stream. SO 4 2-, Total Organic Carbon, NH 4 + , PO 4 3-, and BOD 5 were more than three times higher in the impacted section than in the unimpacted section while sample colour, turbidity, total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, total solids, conductivity, alkalinity, acidity, Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Na + , K + , Cl -, HCO 3 -, NO 3 -, and NO 2 -were about two times higher in the impacted section of the receiving stream than in the unimpacted section. The overall mean concentrations of 293 mg l -1 and 270 mg l -1 BOD 5 in the two effluent streams indicate the medium/ strong strength of the wastewater discharges from OAUTHC. This study showed that the wastewater discharge from the (OAUTHC) Ile-Ife has significant impact on the water quality of the receiving streams. The implications are discussed.

Impact of effluent discharge from a medium-scale fish farm on the water quality of Odo-Owa stream near Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Southwest Nigeria

“…As shown in Table 4, the mean nitrate value at the effluent discharge point (D) (3.5 ± 0.89 mg/L) was about fifty-four times higher than the value recorded at the last sampling Station (F) (0.065 ± 0.03 mg/L) and confirms the huge nitrate loading from the fish farm into the Owa stream. It also shows a significant decrease in concentrations with increasing distance downstream which is similar to the trend recorded by Ojo and Adeniyi (2012). The 0 ± 0 mg/L recorded at the reference water body (Station G) again confirms that there was little or no impact of aquaculture practice on the groundwater source in the area.…”

“…The WQI was also fair throughout the annual cycle, but slightly higher in the rainy season (48.36) than in the dry season (45.36) ( Table 8). Table 9 shows the percentage impact of the aquaculture effluent discharged at the Station D into Odo-Owa stream as assessed downstream at Stations E and F and the extent to which the stream recovered at Station F. The observed trend of the stream recovery from aquaculture effluent impact in this study shows a general progressive increase from Station E to the last sampling Station F. This trend follows the stream recovery pattern described by Peirce et al (1990), Nathanson (2000) and Ojo and Adeniyi (2012).…”

Fe3O4@C Matrix with Tailorable Adsorption Capacities for Paracetamol and Acetylsalicylic Acid: Synthesis, Characterization, and Kinetic Modeling

“…When the pharmaceutical compounds reach water (wastewater, rivers, and oceans), they affect the aquatic species [18] and life itself. Among the most important pollution sources, the untreated hospital and industrial effluents [19,20] and the improper disposal of used or expired pharmaceuticals [21] can be mentioned.…”

Spatial and temporal multivariate statistical analysis to assess drinking water quality in medical services

“…Because of that, awareness must be spread and directed towards prioritizing the safety of water, since hospitals compared to different types of institutions, utilizes high loads of water on a daily basis for different kinds of applications such as ingestion of water, personal hygiene, washing surgical tools and kidney dialysis. Ojo & Adeniyi (2012) acknowledged that the average usage of water in a regular hospital is 100 liters/person/day, whereas the water supplied to hospitals ranges between 400 to 1200 liters/day/bed. Thus, monitoring the quality of water and assuring the execution of guidelines set will lead to improving the performance of the hospitals and other medical facilities along with upgrading its health service.…”