Assessment of the Physicochemical and Microbiological Parameters of a Teaching Hospital’s Wastewaters in Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire

Abstract

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 (BOD 5), 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, BOD 5 and biological parameters do not respect the international (WHO) values recommended for the water to be discharged in the environment. The ratio COD/BOD 5 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.

Characterization of Four University Hospitals Wastewater in Cotonou, Benin

“…found that the values of nitrate, dissolved oxygen demand, COD, BOD5 and biological parameters of teaching hospital wastewaters did not respect the international (WHO) values recommended for the water to be discharged in the environment [25]. In this study, the average suspended matter content (96.17 mg/L) obtained also exceeded the limit value of the WHO standards (20 mg/L) for discharges of wastewater [12].…”

Electrochemical oxidation and electroanalysis of paracetamol on a boron-doped diamond anode material in aqueous electrolytes

“…Because of the importance of temperature in the physico-chemical analysis and treatment of wastewaters [8,[49][50][51], the effect of temperature on paracetamol oxidation process was also studied in this work. Figure 14(a) presents the obtained results, showing that increase of temperature promotes paracetamol oxidation.…”

“…The intensive use of paracetamol leads to its presence in the environment, and more specifically in the surrounding waters. This makes a real problem for humans and other living things, since paracetamol breaks down into very toxic metabolites [5][6][7][8]. A general awareness is therefore necessary in order to propose effective methods for detection, quantification and decontaminating wastewaters containing paracetamol.…”

Electrooxidation of the Paracetamol on Boron Doped Diamond Anode Modified by Gold Particles

“…The wastewater containing pharmaceutical effluents can be carried out by various processes, including physicochemical and biological treatments, which are currently well controlled at laboratory scale and applied on a large scale in industry [4,9,10]. In this context, several recent advances in the treatment by oxidation of organic contaminants contained in aqueous effluents have been made.…”