Improvement of river water quality - the results of industrial effluent minimisation

Abstract

The harmful effects of wastewaters on receiving streams, caused by insufficient quality of effluents, inadequate dimensioning and overloading of present treatment plants, as well as the trends of science and technology call for improvement of the treatment technologies, development of advanced treatment processes and above all for waste minimisation in industrial processes to meet the increasing water quality standards. Microbial degradation is crucial in the prediction of the duration and, thereby, the effects of organic pollution in natural waters. Evaluating the fate of biodegradable organic pollution downstream from the discharge seems an appropriate way to follow the effect of pollution and its hazard assessment that dictates needed sanitation measures. This paper is concerned with effluent discharges and with the water receiving such discharges. A practical method for the study of the fate of biodegradable industrial pollution in receiving stream is demonstrated. The impact of wastewater from the synthetic phenol-formaldehyde resin production on Borovnišica river is presented. By comparative investigations, before and after introduction of sanitation measures, the beneficial impact of industrial effluent minimisation and treatment is shown evidently.