search
for
 About Bioline  All Journals  Testimonials  Membership  News


Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management
World Bank assisted National Agricultural Research Project (NARP) - University of Port Harcourt
ISSN: 1119-8362
Vol. 18, No. 1, 2014, pp. 5-9
Bioline Code: ja14001
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge

Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2014, pp. 5-9

 en Parasitological Profile of Raw Wastewater and the Efficacy of Biosand Filter in Reduction of Parasite Ova and Cysts
OKOJOKWU, OJ; INABO, HI & YAKUBU, SE

Abstract

The disposal of wastewater in water bodies has a negative impact in the environment and the health of people who use such water bodies for either irrigation or drinking purposes. In this study, we evaluated the parasitological profile of wastewater from the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital sewage treatment plant, Zaria, Nigeria using the magnesium sulphate floatation method. The parasite removal efficiency of biosand filter was also tested in comparison with the sewage treatment plant. A total of 960 L of wastewater was examined and a significant level of parasite eggs, cysts and oocysts were detected. In all, 1,648 parasites eggs, cysts and oocysts per litre were counted. Ova of Ascaris check for this species in other resources spp showed the highest count/litre of 307 (18.63%) followed by ova of Taenia check for this species in other resources spp (n=287; 17.42%). The least count per litre was exhibited by cysts of Giardia check for this species in other resources spp (n=58; 3.52%). The analysis revealed that 52.61% of the parasite eggs, cysts and oocysts was removed by the sewage treatment plant while egg removal efficiency of the biosand filter was 97.45%. Further comparison of mean parasite eggs/litre in the effluents of biosand filter and the sewage treatment plant using Wilcoxon’s Signed Ranks Test indicated a significant difference (p < 0.05) with biosand filter having lower counts per litre. The results obtained therefore demonstrate that the raw wastewater was laden with parasite eggs, cysts and oocysts and hence pose public health threat to the users of the effluent downstream. The biosand filter was more efficient than the sewage treatment plant; its effluent contains insufficient level of the ova, cysts and oocysts of parasites well below the less than one (<1) helminth ova/protozoa cysts as recommended by WHO.

Keywords
Wastewater; Influent; Effluent; Ova; Cysts; Oocysts; Parasitological profile

 
© Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management

Home Faq Resources Email Bioline
© Bioline International, 1989 - 2024, Site last up-dated on 01-Sep-2022.
Site created and maintained by the Reference Center on Environmental Information, CRIA, Brazil
System hosted by the Google Cloud Platform, GCP, Brazil