Toxicity Assessment of Wastewater from Sewer System of Aurangabad City and Waluj Mahanagar Area, Maharashtra, India

IJEP 42(4): 387-398 : Vol. 42 Issue. 4 (April 2022)

G.B. Rakh and M.B. Mule*

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Department of Environmental Science, Aurangabad – 431 004, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

The wastewater generated from Aurangabad city area (S1) and Waluj Mahanagar, Maharastra, India suburban residential area near to industrial area (S2) is flowing through sewer systems and meets the Kham river at different places and finally meets to Jaikwadi reservoir. The treated industrial effluent from CETP containing toxic chemicals and heavy metals are discharged in Kham river somewhere near Pandharpur and Patoda villages. The sewage mixed with treated industrial wastewater may impart toxicity which was studied in test organism Guppy fish. The contaminated water of Kham river is being used for domestic and irrigation purposes in the downstream areas. The present investigation deals with the testing of physico-chemical parameters and heavy metals contents of the wastewater flowing in Kham river near Pandharpur and Patoda villages. The physico-chemical parameters, such as temperature, pH, TDS, DO, COD, BOD, SO4, PO4 and NO3; ions, namely Ca, Mg, Na and heavy metals, namely Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn, Cd and Pb were determined in year 2017. As some heavy metal ions, such as Cu, Ni, Zn and Cd contents were determined significantly in wastewater. Therefore, the toxicity assessment of wastewater was carried out in Guppy fish (Poecilia reticulata) in terms of its LC10 and LC50 through bioassay test in laboratory. The results of toxicity study of wastewater near Waluj area show the mortality in Guppy fish confirming its toxic nature. The increasing concentration of wastewater during bioassay shows the increase in mortality percentage. The quality parameters of wastewater samples from S1 and S2 sites were found, COD (131, 910 mg/L), BOD (146, 279 mg/L), SO4 (12.2, 56.3 mg/L), Ca (8.01, 4.01 mg/L) and Zn (2.19, 2.39 mg/L) respectively. The COD, BOD and Zn were recorded higher in quantities than the prescribed limits of Central Pollution Control Board, India. The LC10 and LC50 were determined to wastewater samples at 24, 48, 72 and 96 hr exposure period for samples collected from sampling sites S1 and S2. The initial percent mortalities in test organism Guppy fish were recorded as LC10=11.4853 and LC50=18.6208 for 24 hr to the wastewater collected from Waluj Mahanagar area (S2), whereas LC10=3.3551 and LC50=1.1310 for 48 hr were recorded in wastewater collected from Aurangabad area (S1) with the above results noted that initial mortality of 24 hr recorded in S2 sampling site whereas, 48 hr exposure period required in site S1. The toxic nature of wastewater indicates that there might be presence of poisonous heavy metal contents significantly which might be responsible for imparting mortality in test organism after exposure.

Keywords

Wastewater, Heavy metal ions, Bioassay, Mortality, Toxicity, Guppy fish

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