Abstract:
This study aimed to investigate the environmental impact of discharging
laboratory wastewater containing chemical residues directly into the
soaking pits by the Department of Chemistry, University of Ruhuna. The
department generates a considerable amount of chemically contaminated
wastewater from its laboratories and directly discharges into underground
pits without any pre-treatment. Therefore, the chemicals used in these
laboratories pose a significant contamination risk to water resources and
soil when they escape into the environment. Two sets of soil samples were
collected along two lines downward centring underground wastewater pits.
In addition, a set of sample was collected following the same grid pattern
but aside the underground pits as reference. Soil samples were analyzed for
pH, conductivity, soil organic matter, phosphorous, Pb and Fe following
standard chemical and analytical methods. A set of surface water samples
was collected from the stream near the department and was analysed for
pH, conductivity, DO, BOD, COD, dissolved organic matter, Pb and Fe. It
was revealed that all the soil quality parameters of two sample sets are
comparable with that of reference samples despite insignificant deviations
from place to place. The quality parameters of surface water samples
indicated no significant contamination, according to our data. The overall
study reveals that there is no significant impact to the topsoil and surface
water of the vicinity of the Department of Chemistry, University Ruhuna.
Groundwater analysis should be carried out in order to report the complete
environmental impact of this wastewater disposal.
