Assessing the influence of treated effluent on nutrient enrichment of surface waters using water quality indices and source apportionment
Ofori S. Agyeman P.C. Adotey E.K. Růžičková I. Wanner J.
1 July 2022IWA Publishing
Water Practice and Technology
2022#17Issue 71523 - 1534 pp.
Discharges from wastewater treatment plants have been cited as one of the point sources contributing to surface water quality deterioration. However, does high-quality effluent affect water quality, and contribute significantly to nutrient enrichment or the eutrophication of receiving waters? The Vltava River and a wastewater treatment plant in the Czech Republic were used in a case study, to try to answer these questions through water quality indices and source identification. Samples were collected upstream and downstream of the effluent discharge point, and analyzed for temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, chemical oxygen demand, nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, phosphate and sulfate. No statistically significant difference (P.0.05) was observed between most of the upstream and downstream samples’ physicochemical characteristics. The water quality, organic pollution and eutrophication indices of the river, upstream of the effluent discharge point were 83.48, 2.05 and 2.67, respectively, but increased to 99.06, 2.87 and 3.74 downstream. Nutrient source identification using principal component analysis suggests that the increase might be due to the effluent discharge. However, the river’s comprehensive ecological (quality classification) status was the same upstream as downstream, indicating that the discharged effluent did not cause nutrient enrichment of the river.
effluent , eutrophication , pollution indices , principal component analysis , water pollution , water quality index
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Department of Water Technology and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Environmental Technology, University of Chemistry and Technology, Technická 5, Prague 6 – Dejvice, Prague, 166 28, Czech Republic
Department of Soil Science and Soil Protection, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamýcká 129, Prague 6 – Suchdol, Prague, 165 00, Czech Republic
Department of Chemical and Material Engineering, School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, 010000, Kazakhstan
Department of Water Technology and Environmental Engineering
Department of Soil Science and Soil Protection
Department of Chemical and Material Engineering
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