Physic-Chemical Evaluation of Urban Wastewater in Morocco

Wastewater is a term applied to any type of water that negatively impacts the quality of the water. It includes all effluent from household, commercial establishments and institutions, hospitals, industries and so on. It also includes stormwater and urban runoff, agricultural, horticultural and aquaculture effluent. Due to its negative impact can finally influence human’s health and the balance of ecosystems, wastewater treatment and disposal is an important part of protecting and preserving water resources. 

Urban wastewater usually refers to domestic waste water (from residential settlements) or a mixture of domestic waste water with industrial waste water (from premises used for trade or industry) and/or run-off rain water. It’s one of the main city pollution, which also needs to be treated properly and timely.

In this paper, to give an answer to the choice of methods of treatment of raw sewage and to raise awareness of the pollution of the river R’dom which is a source of irrigation in town Sidi Kacem, the authors evaluated the pollution by the physic-chemical characterization of discharged urban wastewaters.

Two samples were collected in a periodic way, and most part of the qualitative and quantitative analyses was accomplished in situ and in the laboratory. The physical and chemical parameters of samples were measured via different equipment. Then the measurements average, as well as the minima and maxima of the various organic and mineral physic-chemical parameters were gathered and the ratios were calculated in order to know if the organic matter was easily biodegradable. And the authors analyzed and discussed all the physical and chemical parameters one by one.

The results obtained showed that the domestic effluents exceeded the national standards of rejection in Morocco, which required an intervention of the competent jurisdictions in order to preserve the public health and to protect the environment. And it’s also necessary to install an efficient sewage treatment plant to ensure a sustainable development.

Article by Omar El Rhaouat, et al, from Morocco.

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