Assessment of the Physicochemical and Microbiological Parameters of a Teaching Hospital’s Wastewaters in Abidjan in C#244;te d’Ivoire

摘要

This work deals with the physicochemical and microbiological characterization of a hospital wastewater that is directly discharged in water bodies without treatment. Our focus was paid on the teaching hospital of Treichville (Cote d’Ivoire). For the purpose, various physicochemical parameters such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solid, conductivity, nitrate, phosphate, chloride, chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand for five days (BOD5), salinity, and total suspended solids have been assessed. For the microbiological investigations, the parameters consisting in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella and total coliforms have been assessed. From the analysis, it has been found that the wastewaters of the teaching hospital of Treichville are highly loaded in organic pollutants and in pathogens bacteria. The values of nitrate, dissolved oxygen demand, COD, BOD5 and biological parameters do not respect the international (WHO) values recommended for the water to be discharged in the environment. The ratio COD/BOD5 has been determined to vary between 1.25 and 2.80. The results showed that the studied wastewater is a domestic type wastewater composed either by mostly biodegradable pollutants or a mixture of biodegradable and non-biodegradable organic pollutants. These wastewaters constitute therefore a risk for the populations since they are discharged in water bodies without any treatment and used by communities.