ASSESSMENT OF MEDICAL WASTEWATER DISCHARGE FROM HOSPITALS IN LIBYA

Abstract

Hospital waste management is a crucial environmental and public safety issue. Discharge water is one of the main sources of groundwater and rivers contamination if not treated efficiently Hospitals consume an important volume of water a day, and generate multiple amounts of infectious and hazardous polluted discharge water to the drain. These pollutants should be treated by the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) of each hospital before release to the municipal drainage. This study aims at presenting the primary results on characterization of hospital wastewaters in some hospitals in Northeastern part of Libya. Four major hospitals were selected for this study ranging from 500 to 120 beds per hospital, none of them have a wastewater treatment plant, and the wastewater is rejected untreated to the public sewage. This addition of polluted wastewater will increase the load to the WWTPs of the city and reduce the efficiency of treatment processes leading to hazardous pollution in the future. Analysis of the concentration of biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, sulfate, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, chlorides, and oils and grease. Heavy metals were also investigated as Cr, Cd, Pb, Hg, Cu, Ni and Zn. The bacterio-logical parameters were carried out using the standard microbiological techniques. The study was conducted during the period of (15/4/2014 - 15/6/2014). The study showed an increase in the concentration of pollutants which is higher than the Libyan and WHO guidelines of raw wastewaters.