Impact Assessment of Sewage Discharge on Underground Water Qualities around Municipal Sewage Treatment Plant (Mysore City, India)

Abstract

The diverse activities of municipal sewage water and its treatment are being adversely affected on water and soil. This paper discusses the impact of municipal sewage water on the physico-chemical and bacterial parameters of the underground water around sewage treatment plant which is located in the southern part of Mysore city. Underground water samples were collected around the sewage treatment plant and analyzed to evaluate the impacts of sewage discharge on the underground water quality parameters. The physico-chemical (pH, Electric conductivity (EC), Turbidity, Total hardness (TH), Total dissolved solids (TDS), Chemical oxygen demand (COD), Chlorides, sulphate, nitrate, trace metals) and bacterial (total bacteria) properties of the underground water samples were analyzed and results obtained are discussed by compared with permissible limits of the drinking water set by bureau of Indian standards. The physico-chemical analysis of the underground water samples showed that higher values of EC, TH, COD, nitrate, sulphate and trace metals contamination in the underground water. Bacterial analysis found that contamination of harmful bacteria in all the underground water around sewage treatment plant. The results obtained confirmed that all the underground water samples around sewage treatment are highly contaminated and unfit for the drinking purposes. Possible sources and reasons for the underground water contamination are discussed and alternative techniques for the control of the underground water contamination are suggested.