Municipal Wastewater Effluents

Conceptual Framework

Municipal Wastewater Effluents

Wastewater effluent is the final product of all earlier treatment processes, and it can be discharged to a stream, river, bay, lagoon or wetland (Davies et al. 2004). In this study, wastewater is a combination of domestic effluents, industrial effluents, run-off water, and water from commercial units; that are released into the common sewerage network of a city. Municipal wastewater effluents are of diverse qualities, ranging from raw to partially treated or diluted wastewater (Philipa & Tamer, 2012). It comprises, organic matter, suspended solids, nutrients like, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, inorganic matter or dissolved minerals, pharmaceuticals and pathogens (Davies et al. 2004, Kolpin

Human parasites such as protozoa and helminth eggs are the most difficult to remove by treatment process, and have been implicated in numerous infectious gastrointestinal diseases in the world (Hanjraa, 2012). However, in evaluating health impacts, it must be borne in mind that, it is not the presence of pathogens in water that matters, but quantifying the actual risk that make people fall ill. Improved wastewater irrigation is crucial in reducing the danger of microbial exposure, especially when utilizing relatively low quality wastewater effluent for irrigation. The use of untreated wastewater for irrigation posed a high risk to human health irrespective of their age groups (Hussain, 2002), but the degree of risk may vary among various age groups. There is more prevalence of hookworm and infectious ascariasis in children (Feenstra et al, 2002; Cifuentes et al, 2002; & Habbari et al, 2000). Also, heavy metal in wastewater, if ingested in high concentrations can be hazardous to human health. Although, uptake of heavy metal by crops and the risk posed to consumers may not be an issue as plants cannot resist high level of these pollutant and die off before they become a potential threat to

Properties located along polluted streams had significantly lower market value than that located along clean streams. Possible impacts of this pollution source could be associated with, nuisance, odor, noise, hazards and unsightliness (Hussain et al, 2002). In the same vein, residential, commercial or industrial areas that use groundwater as a source of water may reduce in property value as opposed to areas with clean groundwater, because the resource cannot be used for the designated purpose. Land prices and lease revenues may also be affected due to wastewater induced salinity and sodicity, which have negative effects on soil productivity. In contrast, given the resource value of wastewater, land irrigated with wastewater may also appreciate in value. So we can assume that wastewater irrigation can both positively and negatively affect property value depending on the circumstances. It should therefore be accounted as a cost and benefit item in analyzing the potential impacts of wastewater irrigation. Applying the Hedonic pricing, devaluation of properties due to negative impact posed by wastewater reuse can be used as shadow price of wastewater irrigation impact on the environment (Hussain et al, 2002; Hamilton et al,